Introduction To Psychology - The Full Noba Collection

Introduction to
Psychology: The Full Noba

Collection
Ready-Made Textbook nobaproject.com
Copyright
R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba Textbook Series: Psychology.
Champaign, IL: DEF Publishers. DOI: nobaproject.com
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund.
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The
inclusion of a Website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or the Diener
Education Fund, and the Diener Education Fund does not guarantee the accuracy of the
information presented at these sites.
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The Diener Education Fund is co-founded by Drs. Ed and Carol Diener. Ed is the Joseph
Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology (Emeritus) at the University of Illinois. Carol
Diener is the former director of the Mental Health Worker and the Juvenile Justice Programs
at the University of Illinois. Both Ed and Carol are award- winning university teachers.
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
Topic 1: Psychology As Science
Why Science? (Overview Chapter)

Edward Diener
26
Research Designs
Christie Napa Scollon
47
Conducting Psychology Research in the Real World

Matthias R. Mehl
75
Psychophysiological Methods in Neuroscience

Zachary Infantolino & Gregory A. Miller
98
Statistical Thinking
Beth Chance & Allan Rossman
120
History of Psychology
David B. Baker & Heather Sperry
Topic 2: Biological Basis of Behavior
146
Neurons
Sharon Furtak
176
The Nervous System

Aneeq Ahmad
207
The Brain
Diane Beck & Evelina Tapia
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
234
Hormones & Behavior

Randy J. Nelson
267
Biochemistry of Love
Sue Carter & Stephen Porges
291
Evolutionary Theories in Psychology

David M. Buss
310
Epigenetics in Psychology: Toward an Understanding of the Dynamic Interaction among Genes, En

Ian Weaver
345
The Nature-Nurture Question

Eric Turkheimer
Topic 3: Sensation and Perception
365
Vision
Simona Buetti & Alejandro Lleras
391
Hearing
Andrew J. Oxenham
414
Taste and Smell

Linda Bartoshuk & Derek Snyder
431
Touch and Pain

Guro E. Lseth, Dan-Mikael Ellingson & Siri Leknes
467
The Vestibular System

Dora Angelaki & J. David Dickman
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
507
Time and Culture

Robert V. Levine
526
Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness

Daniel Simons
544
Multi-Modal Perception
Lorin Lachs
570
Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases

Cara Laney & Elizabeth F. Loftus
Topic 4: Development
591
Cognitive Development in Childhood

Robert Siegler
613
Social and Personality Development in Childhood

Ross Thompson
636
Adolescent Development
Jennifer Lansford
657
Attachment Through the Life Course

R. Chris Fraley
677
Emerging Adulthood
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
699
The Developing Parent

Marissa L. Diener
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
721
Aging
Tara Queen & Jacqui Smith
Topic 5: Cognition and Language
749
Attention
Frances Friedrich
767
Consciousness
Ken Paller & Satoru Suzuki
793
The Unconscious
Ap Dijksterhuis
813
Categories and Concepts

Gregory Murphy
843
Judgement and Decision Making

Max H. Bazerman
865

Gregory Murphy
895
Language and Language Use

Yoshihisa Kashima
917
Theory of Mind
Bertram Malle
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
Topic 6: Learning and Memory
948
Factors Influencing Learning

Aaron Benjamin
968
Conditioning and Learning

Mark E. Bouton
998
Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval)

Kathleen B. McDermott & Henry L. Roediger
1030
Forgetting and Amnesia

Nicole Dudukovic & Brice Kuhl
Topic 7: Social
1051
Social Neuroscience
Tiffany A. Ito & Jennifer T. Kubota
1075
Social Cognition and Attitudes

Yanine D. Hess & Cynthia L. Pickett
1104
Persuasion: So Easily Fooled

Robert V. Levine
1133
Conformity and Obedience

Jerry M. Burger
1153
Love, Friendship, and Social Support

Debi Brannan & Cynthia D. Mohr
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
1179
The Psychology of Groups

Donelson R. Forsyth
1216
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping

Susan T. Fiske
1236
Aggression and Violence

Brad J. Bushman
1263
Helping and Prosocial Behavior

Dennis L. Poepsel & David A. Schroeder
1290
Positive Relationships
Nathaniel M. Lambert
1308
Attraction and Beauty

Robert G. Franklin & Leslie Zebrowitz
1338
Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology

Berrin Erdogan & Talya N. Bauer
Topic 8: Personality
1354
The Psychodynamic Perspective

Robert Bornstein
1380
Personality Traits
Edward Diener & Richard E. Lucas
1408
Self and Identity

Dan P. McAdams
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
1438
Gender
Christia Spears Brown & Jennifer A. Jewell
1458
Personality Stability and Change

M. Brent Donnellan
1488
Personality Assessment
David Watson
1518
Self-Regulation and Conscientiousness

Roy F. Baumeister
1537
Creativity
Dean Keith Simonton
1559
Self-Efficacy
James E Maddux & Evan Kleiman
1587
Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and Mastery

David Lubinski
Topic 9: Emotions and Motivation
1618
Affective Neuroscience
Eddie Harmon-Jones & Cindy Harmon-Jones
1641
Functions of Emotions
Hyisung Hwang & David Matsumoto
1665
Emotion Experience and Well-Being

Brett Ford & Iris B. Mauss
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
1692
Emotional Intelligence
Marc Brackett, Sarah Delaney & Peter Salovey
1720
Culture and Emotion

Jeanne Tsai
1753
Knowledge Emotions: Feelings that Foster Learning, Exploring, and Reflecting

Paul Silvia
1779
Motives and Goals

Ayelet Fishbach & Maferima Tour-Tillery
1803
Drive States
Sudeep Bhatia & George Loewenstein
Topic 10: Psychological Disorders
1823
History of Mental Illness

Ingrid G. Farreras
1843
Therapeutic Orientations
Hannah Boettcher, Stefan G. Hofmann & Q. Jade Wu
1867
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

Deanna M. Barch
1902
Anxiety and Related Disorders

David H. Barlow & Kristen K. Ellard
1934
Mood Disorders
Anda Gershon & Renee Thompson
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
1971
Personality Disorders
Cristina Crego & Thomas Widiger
1994
Dissociative Disorders
Dalena van Heugten - van der Kloet
2025
Autism: Insights from the Study of the Social Brain

Kevin A. Pelphrey
2047
Psychopathy
Chris Patrick
2081
ADHD and Behavior Disorders in Children

Richard Milich & Walter Roberts
2110
Psychopharmacology
Susan Barron
Topic 11: Well-Being
2134
The Healthy Life

Emily Hooker & Sarah Pressman
2167
Happiness: The Science of Subjective Well-Being

Edward Diener
2193
Positive Psychology
Robert A. Emmons
2214
Optimal Levels of Happiness

Shigehiro Oishi
TABLE
of
CONTENTS
2231
Index
Topic 1
Psychology As Science
Why Science? (Overview

Chapter)
Edward Diener
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Scientific research has been one of the great drivers of progress in human
history, and the dramatic changes we have seen during the past century are
due primarily to scientific findingsmodern medicine, electronics, automobiles
and jets, birth control, and a host of other helpful inventions. Psychologists
believe that scientific methods can be used in the behavioral domain to
understand and improve the world. Although psychology trails the biological
and physical sciences in terms of progress, we are optimistic based on
discoveries to date that scientific psychology will make many important
discoveries that can benefit humanity. This module outlines the characteristics
of the science, and the promises it holds for understanding behavior. The ethics
that guide psychological research are briefly described. It concludes with the
reasons you should learn about scientific psychology.
Learning Objectives
Describe how scientific research has changed the world.
Describe the key characteristics of the scientific approach.
Discuss a few of the benefits, as well as problems that have been created
by science.
Describe several ways that psychological science has improved the world.
Describe a number of the ethical guidelines that psychologists follow.
Scientific Advances and World Progress

Which of the following individuals helped humanity the most?
1. Mother Teresa
2. Albert Schweitzer
3. Father Damien
4. Edward Jenner
5. Norman Borlaug
6. Fritz Haber
The usual response is: Who on earth are Jenner, Borlaug, and Haber? Most
people recall that Mother Teresa helped thousands in the slums of Calcutta.
Albert Schweitzer opened his famous hospital in Africa and saved thousands
of lives. The Catholic priest, Father Damien, helped lepers with his charitable
work in Molokai, Hawaii. However, Jenner, Borlaug, and Haber were scientists
whose findings saved millions and even billions of lives. Most of us have never
heard of them. Dr. Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccine, which has
saved millions of lives and allowed that plague to be eradicated. Many other
diseases have been greatly reduced in the world because of vaccines discovered
using sciencemeasles, pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, typhoid, cholera, polio,
hepatitis, and bubonic plague, for example. The number of lives saved because
of vaccines might easily be more than a billion.
nobaproject.com - Why Science? (Overview Chapter)
Fritz Haber and Norman Borlaug saved more than a billion human lives.
They created the Green Revolution by producing hybrid agricultural crops and
synthetic fertilizer. Because of them, the world was able to experience the
population explosion of the 20th century without widespread famine and
starvation. Humanity can produce food for the seven billion people on the
planet, and the starvation that did occur was for political and other reasons,
not because we could not grow enough food. Now another scientific invention
effective birth controlhas countered the population explosion, and led to
rapidly decreasing birthrates around the globe.
If you examine the great changes and advances that humanity has
undergone in the past century, most of them can be attributed to science. The
world in 1900 was very different than the one we see today (Easterbrook, 2003).
There were few cars and most people traveled by foot, horseback, or carriage.
There were no jets, radios, televisions, birth control pills, or antibiotics. Only a
small portion of the world had telephones or electricity, whereas we find that
now across the globe, 80% of households have television and 84% have
electricity. It is estimated that three quarters of the worlds population has
access to a mobile phone! Life expectancy was 47 years in 1900 and 79 years
in 2010. This huge increase in the lifespan has been called one of the greatest
feats in human history. The percentage of hungry and malnourished people in
the world has dropped substantially across the globe. I.Q. has risen dramatically
over the past century, due to better nutrition and schooling.
The past 100 years have brought us television, air transportation, computers,
and numerous medical marvels. Labor-saving devices such as washing
machines not only have changed our work, but have given both women and
men more freedom. The world of work also has changed at a rapid pace, from
computers to manufacturing processes. Many products that were once made
by hand are now created cheaply by machines.
In the physical, biological, medical, and chemical sciences, understanding

has grown at an amazing pace. For example, in astronomy, we now understand
many things that were unknown a hundred years ago. We know of black holes,
the big bang, quasars and pulsars, dark matter, background radiation, and
planets circling other stars. Before the scientific revolution, we understood very
little about disease, and medicine was crude at best. We now have ways of
preventing many infectious illnesses, surgical techniques have made huge
advances, we have insulin for diabetes, and we know much more about how
to stop cancer. We now understand the structure of DNA, and have mapped
the entire human genome. It is easy to grow complacent about the advances
of science, but make no mistake about itscience has made fantastic
discoveries, and continues to do so. These discoveries have completely changed
our world.
What Is Science?
What is this process we call science, which has so dramatically changed the
world? Science is the use of systematic observational methods in acquiring
knowledge. These empirical methods have been shown to be powerful in terms
of the physical and biological world, and thus we are optimistic that they can
substantially advance understanding of behavior and the mind as well. Science
is not magicit will not solve all human problems, and might not answer all
our questions about behavior. Nevertheless, it appears to be the most powerful
method we have for acquiring knowledge about the observable world. The
essential elements of science are as follows:
1. Systematic observation is the core of science. Scientists observe the world,
in a very organized way. We often measure the phenomenon we are
observing. We record our observations so that memory biases are less likely
to enter in to our conclusions. We are systematic in that we try to observe
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under controlled conditions, and also systematically vary the conditions of

our observations so that we can see variations in the phenomena and
understand when they occur and do not occur.
2. When we develop hypotheses and theories, we state them in a way that can
be tested. Other scientists should be able to test our theories and
hypotheses, and be able to prove when they are not true.
3. Scientists ideally are skeptical and have open discussions about their
observations and theories. There are no popes in science who pronounce
what is infallibly true. Questions can be asked about the theories of even
the most eminent scientist, and even a graduate student can challenge the
theory of a famous person. It is believed that the truth will win out in the
long run as theories are tested in different ways, and that the scientific
method will over time produce increasingly valid theories.
4. Scientists can be as pig-headed as anyone else when it comes to defending
their pet theories, but because skepticism is always an underlying value,
invalid theories will be challenged by others. Scientists realize that their own
beliefs can be flawed, and are willing to let them be tested empirically.
Scientists should test alternative explanations of their findings. Open
discussion is the ideal, in that no topic should be off the table for discussion.
No belief or theory is so hallowed that it cannot be challenged, if the
challenge is thoughtful and evidence can be marshaled by the attacker.
5. Science is cumulative. We can learn the important truths discovered by
earlier scientists and build on them. Any physics student today knows more
about physics than Sir Isaac Newton did, even though Newton was possibly
the most brilliant physicist of all time. Truths must be not only demonstrable
through evidence, they also must be communicable to others. Science has
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proved to be cumulative in a way that cannot be said of most fields. Can we

say that our religious beliefs are greatly superior to those of a thousand
years ago? Is our art greatly superior to that of Michelangelo, or our music
superior to Mozart? Advances sometimes may have been made, but they
appear to be small compared to the types of advances we have seen in
science. A crucial aspect of scientific progress is that after we learn of earlier
advances, we can build upon them and move farther along the path of
knowledge.
Possible Bad Outcomes of Science

A few argue that science has had a bad effect on the planet. They point to the
atom bomb, poison gas, ecological issues, and other problems that in part
derive from science. However, if we examine the full history, we would have to
conclude that, on the whole, science has greatly enhanced human lifemaking
life healthier, more comfortable, and even reducing the ecological problems
that arose from the industrial revolution. Easterbrook (2003) describes the
multitude of ways the world has improved over the past 100 years.
Although the products of science can be used for evil as well as good, thus
far the results of science have been much more positive than negative. This
does not mean, however, that the pendulum could not swing toward the
negative, for example, from a nuclear war. Science requires the guidance of an
educated and concerned citizenry. If used for good, science holds enormous
promise for improving life on earth.
It is possible that when scientific advances produce bad outcomes, it is
because our understanding of physics and chemistry has greatly outstripped
our scientific understanding of human behavior. If we had commensurate
understanding of our own psychology and behavior, we might be better able
12
to control problems such as global warming and nuclear proliferation. We know

how to manufacture goods, but we do not know how to curb our own production
of greenhouse gases. We know how to make weapons of mass destruction, but
do not understand human aggression enough to know how to eliminate them.
Prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup conflict continue to plague humanity.
Mental illnesses such as depression, autism, and schizophrenia take a terrible
toll in suffering, and yet we do not understand how to prevent them. Many of
the most threatening problems of our day are problems of human behavior.
Thus, the amazing progress in other sciences provides a two-pronged argument
for also using science to advance psychology: 1. The great discoveries in other
sciences reveal the power of the scientific method to advance human welfare,
and 2. They demand that we make advances in psychology so that humans can
better use and control the innovations deriving from other scientific fields.
Geekishness Not Required

Tycho Brahe was a scientist who I try to emulate. He was the last major
astronomer to study the skies unaided by a telescope. Brahe believed that
progress in astronomy would come only from very careful observations and
measurement, and so night after night for years he plotted the stars. Brahes
objective and precise measurements, although not perfect, led to important
advances in astronomy. For instance, his observations of supernova led to the
conclusion that the heavens are not unchanging. Brahes observations led not
only to important advances in astronomy such as a workable heliocentric model,
but also to a revolution in how people think of themselves and the universe.
One might think that such a persevering and careful scientist as Brahe would
be boring and geekish. Quite to the contrary. At one of his large parties, Brahes
pet moose fell down the stairs of Brahes castle and was killed. The animal had
drunk too much beer. On another occasion, Brahe lost part of his nose in a
sword fight, a duel following an argument over which combatant was a better
13
mathematician. Thereafter, he was known for the metal nose he sported. Hardly
the quiet and meek image of the stereotypical scientist, Brahe nevertheless
perfected and used the most accurate methods of the time for measuring the
skies. Research psychologists now are trying to make equally accurate
observations and measures of human behavior. Some of these modern
researchers are geeks, but many of them are not. All of them, however, should
aspire to be objective and accurate like Tycho Brahe.
Psychological Science
Science has made dramatic leaps in knowledge, and has vastly improved our
world. Thus, I believe that the scientific method must be used to understand
our own behavior. Psychology is a young science, having become widespread
only in the past half-century. Despite this youth, we can point to the knowledge
contained in this e-text for the advances we have already made. For instance,
we have found that stress can harm peoples physical health, and we are
beginning to understand how this occurs. We are starting to comprehend how
our brains and hormones lead to our experiences. Many early clinical practice
therapies were derived from the personal experiences of therapists, what they
thought was helping their clients. Over time, more and more research was
conducted to determine which therapies were most and least effective. For
example, it has been found in many studies that cognitive behavioral therapy
can help many people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders (Butler,
Chapman, Forman, & Beck, 2006; Hoffman & Smits, 2008). In contrast, research
reveals that some types of therapies actually might be harmful on average
(Lilienfeld, 2007).
In organizational psychology, a number of psychological interventions have
been found by researchers to produce greater productivity and worker
satisfaction in the workplace (e.g., Guzzo, Jette, & Katzell, 1985). Human factor
engineers have greatly increased the safety and utility of the products we use.
14
For example, the human factors psychologist Alphonse Chapanis and other
researchers redesigned the cockpit controls of aircraft to make them less
confusing and easier to respond to, and this led to a decrease in pilot errors
and crashes.
Forensic sciences have made courtroom decisions more valid. We all know
of the famous cases of imprisoned persons who have been exonerated because
of DNA evidence. Equally dramatic cases hinge on psychological findings related
to the accuracy of eyewitness identification and memory (see the Cara Laney
and Elizabeth Loftus module in the Sensation & Perception section of NOBA).
Thus, psychological findings are having practical importance in the world
outside the laboratory. Psychological science has experienced enough success
to demonstrate that it works, but there remains a huge amount yet to be
learned.
Other approaches to understanding behaviorpersonal experience,
religious teaching, and so forthcan be helpful in some cases, but this e-text
is based on findings that have been established with the scientific method.
However, some questions lie outside of science because we have not thought
of a way to observe and measure them, at least no way on which scientists can
yet agree. For instance, the existence of angels falls outside of science because
nobody has thought of a way of observing them on which scientists can agree.
We are not saying that angels do or do not exist, but simply they are not capable
of being addressed by science. Although some scientists believe in only what
they can see and observe, other scientists believe in entities such as God and
angels. But scientists so far have thought of no way to directly study these, and
therefore knowledge about them, if such is possible, must come from other
approaches. These matters lie outside of science.
There is often discussion of a new big frontier of human explorationthe
Antarctic, outer space, or nanotechnology, for example. All of these are exciting
areas, but it could be argued that the most important and challenging frontier
is that of understanding our own behavior. There is vast underexplored
15
territory, intriguing complexity, and the possibility of huge payoffs. The amount
that we do not know is so extensive that there are huge opportunities for young
researchers in this field.
Ethics in Scientific Psychology

Scientific psychologists follow codes of ethics. A fundamental rule is that
researchers must be honest and clear in truthfully reporting their findings. A
number of instances of psychologists faking data have been uncovered, and it
almost invariably ends their career because honesty in reporting is so basic to
the scientific enterprise.
There is an extensive set of ethical guidelines governing how scientific
psychologists treat the participants in studies. For instance, in research with
nonhuman animals, the subjects must not be exposed to pain or death except
for very strong reasons: the promise of the research outcomes must be very
important to counterbalance discomfort inflicted on animals. Even then, pain
and discomfort should be kept to the minimum possible, and alleviated as
quickly as the research aims allow. Although some psychologists believe that
virtually no research should be conducted with animals, most research
psychologists and the public in general do not agree with this view (Moore,
2003). However, most people would agree that animals should not be exposed
to bad living conditions or discomfort except for important reasons.
There are extensive ethical guidelines for how human participants should
be treated in psychological research (Diener & Crandall, 1978; Sales & Folkman,
2000). Following are a few highlights:
1. Informed consent. In general, people should know when they are involved
in research, and understand what will happen to them during the study.
They should then be given a free choice as to whether to participate.
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2. Confidentiality. Information that researchers learn about individual

participants should not be made public without the consent of the
individual.
3. Privacy. Researchers should not make observations of people in private
places such as their bedrooms without their knowledge and consent.
Researchers should not seek confidential information from others, such as
school authorities, without consent of the participant or his or her guardian.
4. Researchers should consider the benefits of their proposed research, and
weigh these against costs, especially potential risks to the participants.
People who participate in psychological studies should be exposed to risk
only if they fully understand these risks, and if the likely benefits clearly
outweigh the risks.
5. Usually researchers debrief their participants after they have completed
the study. They can determine how the participants experienced the
research, but also can educate the participants and fill them in on any details
that might have been omitted earlier.
For each of these ethical guidelines, there are exceptions and complexities,
and you will learn about these if you enroll in a course on research methods.
However, in general, these guidelines are very useful in protecting the
participants in our studies as well as society.
Researchers should also consider how their research will be used. An
extreme case, for example, would be if a researcher wanted to study more
effective means of torturing people to extract information. Even if the study
made discoveries, would this knowledge truly better the world? Most
researchers hope that at least someday their findings might play a role in
17
improving the quality of life. A case in point is the work of Fritz Haber, the
inventor of synthetic fertilizer mentioned earlier. Haber also discovered a
poison gas, Zyklon B, which could be used in warfare, and was later adapted by
the Nazis for killing innocent people in concentration camps. Although Haber
argued that his poison gas was simply another weapon of warfare like any other
weapon, most researchers are reluctant to produce scientific findings that might
have such a sinister purpose. Whether research psychologists work on topics
such as how the eye works or on topics such as discrimination and aggression,
most hope that their findings eventually will be of benefit to humanity. Although
much research is theoretical and abstract, it is believed that, in the long run,
the basic understanding provided by such research will eventually produce
many benefits.
Why Learn About Scientific Psychology?

I once had a psychology professor who asked my class why we were taking a
psychology course. Our responses give the range of reasons that people want
to learn about psychology:
1. To understand ourselves
2. To other understand other people and groups
3. To be better able to influence others, for example, in socializing children or
motivating employees
4. To learn how to better help others and improve the world, for example, by
doing effective psychotherapy
5. To learn a skill that will lead to a profession such as being a social worker
18
or a professor
6. To learn how to evaluate the research claims you hear or read about
7. Because it is interesting, challenging, and fun! People want to learn about
psychology because this is exciting in itself, regardless of other positive
outcomes it might have. Why do we see movies? Because they are fun and
exciting, and we need no other reason. Thus, one good reason to study
psychology is that it can be rewarding in itself.
Conclusions
The science of psychology is an exciting adventure. Whether you will become
a scientific psychologist, an applied psychologist, or an educated person who
knows about psychological research, this field can influence your life and
provide fun, rewards, and understanding. My hope is that you learn a lot from
the modules in this e-text, and also that you enjoy the experience! I love learning
about psychology and neuroscience, and hope you will too!
19
Outside Resources
Web: Science Heroes- A celebration of people who have made lifesaving
discoveries.
http://www.scienceheroes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=
article&id=258&Itemid=27
Discussion Questions
1. Some claim that science has done more harm than good. What do you think?
2. Humanity is faced by many challenges and problems. Which of these are
due to human behavior, and which are external to human actions?
3. If you were a research psychologist, what phenomena or behaviors would
most interest you?
4. Will psychological scientists be able to help with the current challenges
humanity faces, such as global warming, war, inequality, and mental illness?
5. What can science study and what is outside the realm of science? What
questions are impossible for scientists to study?
6. Some claim that science will replace religion by providing sound knowledge
instead of myths to explain the world. They claim that science is a much
more reliable source of solutions to problems such as disease than is
religion. What do you think? Will science replace religion, and should it?
7. Are there human behaviors that should not be studied? Are some things
so sacred or dangerous that we should not study them?
Vocabulary
Empirical methods
Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation.
Ethics
Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions
that protect research participants from potential harm and that help steer
scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might
compromise the integrity of their research.
Hypotheses
A logical idea that can be tested.
Systematic observation
The careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better
understanding it. Observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to
track, tally, or otherwise organize information about the natural world.
Theories
Groups of closely related phenomena or observations.
Reference List
Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M., & Beck, A. T. (2006). The empirical
status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Clinical
Psychology Review, 26, 1731.
Diener, E., & Crandall, R. (1978). Ethics in social and behavioral research. Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press.
Easterbrook, G. (2003). The progress paradox. New York, NY: Random House.
Guzzo, R. A., Jette, R. D., & Katzell, R. A. (1985). The effects of psychologically
based intervention programs on worker productivity: A meta-analysis.
Personnel Psychology, 38, 275.291.
Hoffman, S. G., & Smits, J. A. J. (2008). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult
anxiety disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69, 62132.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2007). Psychological treatments that cause harm. Perspectives
on Psychological Science, 2, 5370.
Moore, D. (2003). Public lukewarm on animal rights. Gallup News Service, May
21. http://www.gallup.com/poll/8461/public-lukewarm-animal-rights.aspx
Sales, B. D., & Folkman, S. (Eds.). (2000). Ethics in research with human
participants. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Why Science? (Overview Chapter) by Edward
Diener is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_US.
Research Designs
Christie Napa Scollon
Singapore Management University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Psychologists test research questions using a variety of methods. Most research
relies on either correlations or experiments. With correlations, researchers
measure variables as they naturally occur in people and compute the degree
to which two variables go together. With experiments, researchers actively
make changes in one variable and watch for changes in another variable.
Experiments allow researchers to make causal inferences. Other types of
methods include longitudinal and quasi-experimental designs. Many factors,
including practical constraints, determine the type of methods researchers use.
Often researchers survey people even though it would be better, but more
expensive and time consuming, to track them longitudinally.
Learning Objectives
Understand the difference between correlational and experimental

designs.
Understand how to interpret correlations.
Understand how experiments help us to infer causality.
Understand how surveys relate to correlational and experimental research.
Understand what a longitudinal study is.
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different research designs.
Research Designs
We look at dinosaur bones to make educated guesses about extinct life. We
systematically chart the heavens through observation to learn about the
relationship of the stars and planets, and we track spending to predict shifts in
the economy. All of these observations form the foundation of science.
Psychology is no different in its adherence to systematic, scientific methods. In
the movie Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding, Jr., became famous for the phrase,
Show me the money! In psychology, as in all sciences, the phrase might as
well be Show me the data!
One of the important steps in scientific inquiry is to test our research
questions, otherwise known as hypotheses. However, there are many ways to
test hypotheses in psychological research. Which of these methods you choose
to use will depend on the type of questions you are asking as well as what
resources are available to you. All methods have limitations, which is why the
best research uses a variety of methods.
Most psychological research can be divided into two types: experimental
and correlational research.
Experimental Research
If somebody gave you $20 that absolutely had to be spent today, how would
you choose to spend it? Would you spend it on an item youve been eyeing for
weeks or would you donate the money to charity? Which option do you think
would bring you the most happiness? If youre like most people, youd choose
to spend the money on yourself (duh, right?). Our intuition is that wed be
happier if we spent the money on ourselves.
nobaproject.com - Research Designs
28
Knowing that our intuition can sometimes be wrong, Professor Elizabeth

Dunn (2008) at the University of British Columbia set out to conduct an
experiment on spending and happiness. She gave participants in her
experiment $20 and then told them they had to spend the money by the end
of the day. Some of the participants were told they must spend the money on
themselves and some were told they must spend the money on others (either
charity or a gift for someone). At the end of the day, she measured participants
levels of happiness using a self-report questionnaire. (But wait, how do you
measure something like happiness when you cant really see it? See the section
on operational definitions
.)
In an experiment, researchers manipulate or cause changes in the
independent variable and observe or measure the dependent variable. The
independent variable is the one under the experimenters control. In the case
of Dunns experiment, the independent variable was whether participants spent
the money on themselves or on others. The dependent variable is the variable
that is not manipulated at allin this case, happiness. Any observed changes
or group differences in the dependent variable (happiness) can be attributed
to the manipulation of the independent variable (whom money was spent on).
What Dunn and her colleagues found was that after all the spending had been
done, people who spent the money on others were happier than people who
spent the money on themselves. In other words, spending on others causes us
to be happier than spending on ourselves. Do you find this surprising?
But wait! Doesnt happiness depend on a lot of different factors, for instance,
a persons upbringing or life circumstances? What if some people had happy
childhoods and thats why theyre happier? Or what if some people dropped
their toast that morning and it fell jam side down and this ruined their whole
day? You are correct that these factors and many more could easily affect a
persons level of happiness. So how can we conclude that spending on others
causes happiness in the case of Dunns experiment? The most important thing
29
about experiments is random assignment. Participants dont get to pick which

condition they are in. The experimenter assigns them to a particular condition
based on the flip of a coin or the roll of a die or any other random method. Why
do researchers do this? There is the obvious reason: you can imagine which
condition in Dunns study most people would choose to be in if given the choice.
But another equally important reason is that random assignment makes it so
that the groups on average are similar on all characteristics except what the
experimenter manipulates. By randomly assigning people to conditions (selfspending versus other-spending), some people with happy childhoods will end
up in each condition. Some people who dropped their toast that morning will
end up in each condition. The distribution of all these factors will be even across
the two groups, and this means that on average the two groups will be
equivalent on all these factors. Random assignment is critical to
experimentation because if the only way in which the two groups differ is on
the independent variable, then we can make the inference that the independent
variable is what causes any observable differences between the two groups.
Heres another example of the importance of random assignment. Lets say
your class is going to form two basketball teams, and you get to be captain of
one team. Everyone in the class will be divided among the two teams. If you
get to pick the players for your team first, whom will you pick? Youll probably
pick the tallest members of the class or the ones who appear the most athletic.
You probably wont pick the short, uncoordinated people unless theres nobody
else. As a result, your team will be taller and more athletic than the other team.
What if we want the teams to be even? How can we do this when we have people
of varying height? All we have to do is randomly assign players to the two teams.
Inevitably, some tall people and some short people will end up on your team.
Some tall and some short will end up on the other team. The average height of
the teams will be the same. That is the power of random assignment!
30
Other considerations
In addition to using random assignment, you must also avoid introducing
confounds to your experiment. Confounds are things that could undermine
your ability to draw causal inferences. For example, if you want to test whether
a new happy pill will make people happier, you could randomly assign
participants to take the happy pill or not and compare these two groups on
their self-reported happiness. However, if some people know they are getting
the happy pill, they might develop participant expectations that may influence
their self-reported happiness. This is sometimes known as a placebo effect.
Just knowing that one is getting special treatment or something new is
sometimes enough to actually cause changes in human behavior. A related idea
is participant demand. This occurs when participants try to behave in way that
they think the experimenter wants. Placebo effects and participant demand
often occur unintentionally. Even experimenter expectations can influence the
outcome of a study. For example, if the experimenter knows who took the happy
pill and who did not, and the dependent variable is the experimenters
observations of peoples happiness, then the experimenter might see
improvements in one group that are not really there.
Correlational Designs
When scientists passively observe and measure their phenomena it is called
correlational research. Here, we do not intervene and change behavior, as we
do in experiments. In correlational research we see patterns that go together,
but we usually cannot infer what causes what. Importantly, with correlational
research you can examine only two variables at a time, no more and no less.
31
What if you wanted to test whether spending on others is related to

happiness, but you dont have $20 to give to each participant? You could use a
correlational design, which is exactly what Professor Dunn did, too. She asked
people how much of their income they spend on others or donate to charity,
and she asked them how happy they are. Do you think these two variables were
related? Yes, they were! The more money people spent on others, the happier
they were.
More details about the correlation

To find out how well two variables go together, we can plot the relation between
the two scores on what is known as a scatterplot (Figure 1). In the scatterplot,
each dot represents a data point (in this case it is individuals, but it could be
some other unit). Importantly, each dot provides us with two pieces of
informationin this case, information about how good the person rated the
past month (x-axis) and how happy the person felt in the past month (y-axis).
Which variable goes on which axis does not matter. According to Figure 1, people
are happier when they perceive the month is good as opposed to bad.
32
Figure 1. Scatterplot of the association between happiness and ratings of the past month, a
positive correlation (r = .81). Each dot represents an individual.
The association between two variables can be represented using the

scatterplot or summarized statistically using the correlation coefficient
(abbreviated as r). A correlation tells us information about the direction and
strength of the association between two variables. For the example above, the
direction of the association is positive. That means that people who perceived
the past month as being good reported feeling happy, whereas people who
perceived the month as being bad reported feeling less happy.
With a positive correlation, the two variables go up together and go down
together. In a scatterplot, the dots form a pattern that extends from the bottom
left to the upper right. The r value for a positive correlation is positive (usually
the positive sign is omitted). Here, the r value is .81.
A negative correlation is one in which the two variables move in opposite
directions. That is, as one variable goes up, the other one goes down. Figure 2
shows the association between average height of males in a country and
pathogen prevalence (or commonness of disease) of the country. In this
scatterplot, each dot represents a country. Notice how the dots extend from
33
the top left to the bottom right. What does this mean in real world terms? It
means that people are shorter in parts of the world where there is more disease.
The r value for a negative correlation is negative, that is, it has a minus () sign
in front of it. Here it is .83.
Figure 2. Scatterplot showing the association between average male height and pathogen
prevalence, a negative correlation (r = .83). Each dot represents a country. (Chiao, 2009)
The strength of a correlation has to do with how well the two variables go
together. Recall that in Professor Dunns correlational study, spending on others
was positively correlated with happiness. The more people spent on others,
the happier they were. At this point, you may be thinking to yourself, I know a
very generous person who gave away lots of money to other people but is
miserable! Or maybe you know of a very stingy person who is happy as a clam.
Yes, there might be exceptions. If an association has a lot of exceptions, it is a
weak correlation. If an association has few or no exceptions, then it is a stronger
correlation. A strong correlation is one in which the two variables always or
almost always go together. In the case of happiness and how good the week
is, the association is strong. The stronger a correlation is, the tighter the dots
34
in the scatterplot will be arranged along a sloped line.

The r value of a strong correlation will have a high absolute value. In other
words, you disregard whether there is a negative sign in front of the r value,
and just consider the size of the numerical value. If the absolute value is large,
it is a strong correlation. A weak correlation is one in which the two variables
go together some of the time, but not all of the time. Figure 3 shows the relation
between valuing happiness and grade point average (GPA). People who value
happiness more tended to earn slightly lower grades, but there were lots of
exceptions to this. The r value for a weak correlation will have a low absolute
value. If two variables are so weakly related as to be unrelated, we say they are
uncorrelated, and the r value will be zero or very close to zero. Is the correlation
between pathogen prevalence and height strong? Compared to Figure 3, the
dots in Figure 2 are tighter and less dispersed. The absolute value of .83 is
large. Therefore, this is a strong negative correlation.
Figure 3. Scatterplot showing the association between valuing happiness and GPA, a weak
negative correlation (r = .32). Each dot represents an individual.
35
Can you guess the strength and direction of the correlation between age
and year of birth? If you said this is a strong negative correlation, you are correct!
Older people always have lower years of birth than younger people. In fact, this
is a perfect correlation because there are no exceptions to this pattern. I
challenge you to find a 10-year-old born before 2003! You cant.
Problems with the correlation

If generosity and happiness are positively correlated, does that mean that being
generous causes happiness? Or does disease cause people to grow short? From
the correlation alone, we cant tell. It may be that happiness causes generosity
or generosity causes happiness. Or a third variable might be causing both
happiness and generosity, creating a spurious link between the two. For
example, wealth could be the third variable that both causes greater happiness
and causes greater generosity. This is why the correlation is not used to
determine causality.
Quasi-Experimental Designs
What if you want to study the effects of marriage on a variable? For example,
does marriage make people happier? Can you randomly assign some people
to get married and others to remain single? Of course not. So how can you study
these important variables? You can use a quasi-experimental design. A quasiexperimental design is one in which random assignment to conditions is not
used. Instead, we rely on existing group memberships (e.g., married vs. single),
and we treat these as independent variables even though we did not assign
people to those conditions and we did not manipulate those variables. Causal
inference is more difficult with quasi-experimental designs. For example,
people who get married might differ on a variety of characteristics from those
who do not marry. If we find that the married folks are happier than the singles,
36
it will be hard to say that marriage causes happiness because the people who
end up getting married might be happier to begin with than the people who
remain single.
Longitudinal Studies
Another powerful research design is the longitudinal study. Longitudinal
studies follow the same people and measure them several times. Some
longitudinal studies last a few weeks, some a few months, some a year or more.
Some studies that have contributed a lot to psychology follow the same people
over decades. For example, one study has followed more than 20,000 Germans
for the past two decades. From these longitudinal data, psychologist Rich Lucas
(2003) was able to determine that indeed people who end up getting married
in life start off a bit happier than their peers who never marry. Longitudinal
studies provide valuable evidence for testing many theories in psychology, but
they can be quite costly to conduct, especially if they follow many people for
many years.
Surveys
A survey is a way of gathering information by the use of old-fashioned
questionnaires or the Internet. Compared to a study conducted in a psychology
laboratory, surveys can reach a larger number of participants with less cost.
Although surveys are typically used for correlational research, this is not always
the case. An experiment can be carried out using surveys as well. For example,
King and Napa (1998) presented participants with different types of stimuli on
paper: either a survey completed by a happy person or a survey completed by
an unhappy person. They wanted to see whether happy people were judged
as more likely to get into heaven compared to unhappy people. Can you figure
out the independent and dependent variables in this study? Can you guess
37
what the results were? (Happy people were judged as more likely to go to heaven
than unhappy people!)
Likewise, correlational research can be conducted without the use of
surveys. For instance, psychologists LeeAnn Harker and Dacher Keltner (2001)
examined the smile intensity of womens college yearbook photos. Smiling in
the photos was correlated with being married 10 years later!
Tradeoffs in Research
Even though there are limitations to correlational and survey research, these
are not poor cousins to experiments and longitudinal designs. In addition to
selecting a method that is appropriate to the question, many practical concerns
may influence the decision to use one method over another. One of these
factors is simply resource availabilityhow much time and money do you have
to invest in the research? (Tip: If youre doing a senior honors thesis, do not
embark on a lengthy longitudinal study unless you are prepared to delay
graduation!) Often, we survey people even though it would be better, but so
much more difficult, to track them longitudinally. Especially in the case of
exploratory research, it may make sense to opt for a cheaper and faster method
first. If results from the initial study are promising, then the researcher can
follow up with a more intensive method.
Research Methods: Why You Need Them

Just look at any major news outlet and youll find research being reported.
Sometimes the journalist understands the research methodology, sometimes
not. Often, the media are quick to draw a conclusion for you. After reading this
chapter, you should see that the strength of a scientific finding lies in the
strength of its methodology. Therefore, in order to be a savvy consumer of
research, you need to understand the pros and cons of different methods and
38
the distinctions among them. Plus, understanding how psychologists

systematically go about answering research questions will help you to solve
problems in other domains, both personal and professional, not just in
psychology.
39
Outside Resources
Article: Harker and Keltner study of yearbook photographs and marriage
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/80/1/112/
Article: Spending money on others promotes happiness. Elizabeth Dunns
research
https://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5870/1687.abstract
Article: What makes a life good?
Artilce: Rich Lucass longitudinal study on the effects of marriage on
happiness
1. What are some key differences between experimental and correlational
research?
2. Why might researchers sometimes use methods other than experiments?
3. How do surveys related to correlational and experimental designs?
Vocabulary
Confounds
Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an
experiment.
Correlation
Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together.
Dependent variable
The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an
experiment.
Experimenter expectations
When the experimenters expectations influence the outcome of a study.
Independent variable
The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.
Longitudinal study
A study that follows the same group of individuals over time.
Operational definitions
How researchers specifically measure a concept.
Participant demand
When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants
them to behave.
Placebo effect
When receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior.
Quasi-experimental design
An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions.
Random assignment
Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by
chance.
Reference List
Chiao, J. (2009). Culturegene coevolution of individualism collectivism and
the serotonin transporter gene. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 277,
529-537. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1650
Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others
promotes
happiness.
Science,
319(5870),
16871688.
doi:10.1126/
science.1150952
Harker, L. A., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions of positive emotion in women's
college yearbook pictures and their relationship to personality and life
outcomes across adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
80, 112124.
King, L. A., & Napa, C. K. (1998). What makes a life good? Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 75, 156165.
Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2003). Re-examining
adaptation and the setpoint model of happiness: Reactions to changes in
marital status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 527539.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Research Designs by Christie Napa Scollon is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
4.0

Conducting Psychology
Research in the Real World
Matthias R. Mehl
University of Arizona
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Because of its power to establish causality, the laboratory experiment is
traditionally considered the method of choice for psychological science. Yet, in
its systematic isolation of conditions and effects, it can yield findings that are
out of touch with reality and have limited applicability for understanding human
real-world behavior. This chapter highlights the importance of also conducting
research outside the psychology laboratory, within participants natural,
everyday environments and reviews existing methodologies for studying daily
life.
Learning Objectives
Identify limitations of the traditional laboratory experiment.
Explain ways in which daily life research can further psychological science.
Know what methods exist for conducting psychological research in the real
world.
Introduction
The laboratory experiment is traditionally considered the method of choice in
psychology research. This is so because only laboratory experiments can
unambiguously separate cause from effect and, thereby, establish causality.
Despite this unique strength, though, it is also clear that a scientific field that is
mainly based on controlled laboratory studies ends up lopsided. It accumulates
a lot of knowledge on what can happenunder carefully isolated and controlled
circumstancesbut it has little to say about what actually does happen under
the circumstances that people actually encounter in their daily lives. With the
words of one of the founding fathers of social psychology: Experimentation in
the laboratory occurs, socially speaking, on an island quite isolated from the
life of society (Lewin, 1944, p. 286). This chapter highlights the importance of
also conducting research outside the laboratory (Reis & Gosling, 2010), directly
within participants natural environments, and reviews existing methodologies
for studying daily life.
Rationale for Conducting Psychology Research in the

Real World
One important challenge researchers face when designing a study is to find the
right balance between ensuring internal validity, or the degree to which a study
allows unambiguous causal inferences, and external validity, or the degree to
which a study ensures that potential findings apply to settings and samples
other than the ones being studied (Brewer, 2000). Unfortunately, these two
kinds of validity tend to be difficult to achieve in concert. This is so because
creating a controlled setting in which all potentially influential factors (other
than the experimentally manipulated variable) are controlled is bound to create
an environment that is quite different from what people naturally encounter
nobaproject.com - Conducting Psychology Research in the Real World
49
(e.g., studying person perception through written character descriptions of

hypothetical individuals). It is the degree to which an experimental situation is
comparable to the corresponding real-world situation of interest, though, that
determines how generalizable potential findings will be. Because of this
antagonistic relationship between the two types of validity, one is oftenby
designprioritized over the other. Due to the importance of identifying true
causal relationships, the field of psychology has traditionally emphasized
internal over external validity. However, to derive principles of human behavior
that generalize across populations and environments, there is no other way
than to complement traditional laboratory research, where participants are
brought into the lab, with field research where, in essence, the psychological
laboratory is brought to participants. Field studies allow for the important test
of how psychological variables and processes of interest behave under realworld circumstances (i.e., what does happen rather than what can happen).
They can also facilitate downstream operationalizations of constructs that
measure life outcomes of interest directly rather than indirectly through some
of their precursors.
Take, for example, the fascinating field of psychoneuroimmunology where
the goal is to understand the interplay of psychological factors and the immune
system. Highly sophisticated and carefully controlled experiments offer ways
to isolate the cascade of neural, hormonal, and cellular mechanisms that link
psychological variables such as chronic stress to biological outcomes such as
immunosuppression (Sapolsky, 2004). Although these studies demonstrate
impressively how psychological factors can affect health-relevant biological
processes, theyby research designremain mute about the degree to which
these factors actually do undermine peoples everyday health. It is important
to show that laboratory stress can alter the number of natural killer cells in the
blood. But, it is equally important to test to what extent the levels of stress that
humans experience on a day-to-day basis result in them catching a cold more
often or taking longer to recover from one. The goal for researchers, therefore,
50
must be to complement traditional laboratory experiments with less controlled

studies under real-world circumstances. The term ecological validity is used to
refer the degree to which an effect has been obtained under conditions that
are typical for what happens in everyday life (Brewer, 2000). What methods,
then, do researchers have for studying the psychology of everyday life?
An Overview of Research Methods for Studying Daily

Life
To capture life as it is lived has been a strong goal for some researchers for a
long time. Wilhelm and his colleagues recently published a comprehensive
review of early attempts to systematically document daily life (Wilhelm, Perrez,
& Pawlik, 2012). Building onto these original methods, researchers have over
the past decades developed a broad toolbox for measuring experiences,
behavior, and physiology directly in participants daily lives (Mehl & Conner,
2012). Figure 1 provides a schematic overview of the methodologies described
below.
51
Figure 1. Schematic Overview of Research Methods for Studying Daily Life
Studying Daily Experiences

Starting in the mid-1970s, motivated by a growing skepticism toward highly
controlled laboratory studies, a few groups of researchers developed a set of
new methods that are now commonly known as experience sampling method
(Hektner, Schmidt, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2007), ecological momentary
assessment (Stone & Shiffman, 1994), or diary method (Bolger & Rafaeli, 2003).
Although variants within this set of methods exist, the basic idea behind all of
them is to collect in-the-moment (or, close-to-the-moment) self-report data
directly from peoples daily lives. This is typically accomplished by asking
participants repeatedly (e.g., five times per day) over a period of time (e.g., a
week) to report on their current thoughts and feelings. The momentary
questionnaires often ask about their location (e.g., Where are you now?), social
environment (e.g., With whom are you now?), activity (e.g., What are you
52
currently doing?), and experiences (e.g., How are you feeling?). That way,
researchers get a snapshot of what is going on in participants lives at the time
at which they were asked to report.
Initially, participants wore electronic wristwatches that beeped at
preprogrammed times at which they completed one of a stack of provided paper
questionnaires. With the mobile computing revolution, both the prompting and
the questionnaire completion were gradually replaced by handheld devices.
Being able to collect the momentary questionnaires digitally and time-stamped
had major methodological and practical advantages and contributed to
experience sampling going mainstream (Conner, Tennen, Fleeson, & Barrett,
2009).
Over time, experience sampling and related momentary self-report
methods have become very popular, and, by now, they are effectively the gold
standard for studying daily life. They have helped make progress in almost all
areas of psychology (Mehl & Conner, 2012). Their complex data structure (i.e.,
many measurements from many participants) has further spurred the
development of novel statistical methods (Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013). Finally,
and maybe most important, they accomplished what they sought out to
accomplish: to bring attention to what psychology ultimately wants and needs
to know about, namely what people actually do, think, and feel in the various
contexts of their lives (Funder, 2001, p. 213).
In a classic study, Stone, Reed, and Neale (1987) tracked positive and negative
experiences surrounding a respiratory infection using daily experience
sampling and found that undesirable experiences peaked and desirable ones
dipped about four to five days prior to participants coming down with the cold.
More recently, Killingsworth & Gilbert (2010) collected momentary self-reports
from more than 2,000 participants via a smartphone app and found that they
were less happy when their mind was in an idling, mind-wandering state than
when it was in an engaged, task-focused one. These are just two examples that
illustrate how experience sampling studies have yielded findings that could not
53
be obtained with traditional laboratory methods.

Recently, the day reconstruction method (DRM) (Kahneman, Krueger,
Schkade, Schwarz, & Stone, 2004) has been developed to obtain (more) valid
information about a persons daily experiences without going through the
burden of collecting momentary experience sampling data. In the DRM,
participants report their experiences of a given day retrospectively after
engaging in a systematic, experiential reconstruction of the day on the following
day.
Studying Daily Behavior

Experience sampling is also often used to study everyday behavior (i.e., daily
social interactions and activities). In the laboratory, behavior is best studied
using direct behavioral observation (e.g., video recordings). In the real world,
this is, of course, much more difficult. As Funder put it, it seems it would require
a detectives report [that] would specify in exact detail everything the
participant said and did, and with whom, in all of the contexts of the participants
life (Funder, 2007, p. 41).
Mehl
and
colleagues
have
developed
naturalistic
observation
methodology that is similar in spirit. Rather than following participantslike a

detectivewith a video camera (see Craik, 2000), they equip participants with
a portable audio recorder that is programmed to periodically record brief
snippets of ambient sounds (e.g., 30 seconds every 12 minutes). Participants
carry the recorder (originally a microcassette recorder, now a smartphone app)
on them as they go about their days and return it at the end of the study. The
recorder provides researchers with a series of sound bites that, together,
amount to an acoustic diary of participants days as they naturally unfoldand
that constitute a representative sample of their daily activities and social
encounters. In allusion to the metaphoric researchers ear at the participants
lapel, they called their method the electronically activated recorder, or EAR
54
(Mehl, Pennebaker, Crow, Dabbs, & Price, 2001). The ambient sound recordings
can be coded for participants locations (e.g., at school, in a coffee shop),
activities (e.g., watching TV, eating), interactions (e.g., in a group, on the phone),
and emotional expressions (e.g., laughing, sighing).
In a cross-cultural study, Ramrez-Esparza and her colleagues used the EAR
method to study sociability in the United States and Mexico. Interestingly, they
found that although American participants rated themselves significantly
higher than Mexicans on the question, I see myself as a person who is talkative,
they actually spent almost 10 percent less time talking (Ramrez-Esparza, Mehl,
lvarez Bermdez, & Pennebaker, 2009). In a similar way, Mehl and his
colleagues used the EAR method to debunk the long-standing myth that women
are by a factor more talkative than men. Using data from six different studies,
they showed that both sexes use on average about 16,000 words per day. The
estimated gender difference of 546 words was trivial compared to the immense
range of more than 46,000 words between the least and most talkative
individual (695 versus 47,016 words; Mehl, Vazire, Ramrez-Esparza, Slatcher, &
Pennebaker, 2007). Together, these studies demonstrate how naturalistic
observation can be used to study objective aspects of daily behavior and how
it can yield findings quite different from what other methods yield (Mehl,
Robbins, & Deters, 2012).
A series of other methods and creative ways for assessing behavior directly
and unobtrusively in the real world are described in a seminal book on
nonreactive measures (Webb, Campbell, Schwartz, Sechrest, & Grove, 1981).
For example, researchers have used time-lapse photography to study the flow
of people and the use of space in urban public places (Whyte, 1980). They have
observed peoples personal (e.g., dorm rooms) and professional (e.g., offices)
spaces to understand how personality is expressed and perceived in everyday
environments (Gosling, Ko, Mannarelli, & Morris, 2002). They have even
systematically collected and analyzed peoples garbage to measure what people
actually consume (e.g., empty alcohol bottles or cigarette boxes) rather than
55
what they say they consume (Rathje & Murphy, 2001). Because people often
cannot and sometimes may not want to accurately report what they do, the
directand ideally nonreactiveassessment of real-world behavior is of such
high importance for psychological research (Baumeister, Vohs, & Funder, 2007).
Studying Daily Physiology

In addition to studying how people think, feel, and behave in the real world,
researchers are also interested in how our bodies respond to the fluctuating
demands of our lives. What are the daily experiences that make our blood
boil? How do our neurotransmitters and hormones respond to the stressors
we encounter in our lives? What physiological reactions do we show to being
lovedor getting ostracized? In pursuing these questions, it is important to
keep in mind that what is stressful, engaging, or boring for one person might
not be so for another. It is, in part, for this reason that researchers have found
only limited correspondence between how people respond physiologically to
a standardized laboratory stressor (e.g., giving a speech) and how they respond
to stressful experiences in their lives. To give an example, Wilhelm and
Grossman (2010) describe a participant who showed rather minimal heart rate
increases in response to a laboratory stress protocol (about five to 10 beats per
minute) but quite dramatic increases (almost 50 beats per minute) later in the
afternoon while watching a soccer game. Of course, the reverse pattern can
happen as well, such as when patients have high blood pressure in the doctors
office but not in their home environmentthe so-called white coat
hypertension (White, Schulman, McCabe, & Dey, 1989).
Ambulatory physiological monitoring has a long history in biomedical
research and an array of monitoring devices exist (Fahrenberg & Myrtek, 1996).
Among the biosignals that can now be measured in daily life with portable signal
recording devices are the electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure,
electrodermal activity (or sweat response), body temperature, and even the
56
electroencephalogram (EEG) (Wilhelm & Grossman, 2010). Most recently,

researchers have added ambulatory assessment of hormones (e.g., cortisol)
and other biomarkers (e.g., immune markers) to the list (Schlotz, 2012). The
development of ever more sophisticated ways to track what goes on
underneath our skins as we go about our lives is a fascinating and rapidly
advancing field.
In a recent study, Lane, Zareba, Reis, Peterson, & Moss (2011) used
experience sampling combined with ambulatory electrocardiography (a socalled Holter monitor) to study how emotional experiences can alter cardiac
function in patients with a congenital heart abnormality (long QT syndrome).
Consistent with the idea that emotions may in some cases be able to trigger a
cardiac event, they found that typicalin most cases relatively low intensity
daily emotions had a measurable effect on ventricular repolarization, an
important cardiac parameter that, in these patients, is linked to risk of a cardiac
event. In another study, Smyth et al. (1998) combined experience sampling with
momentary assessment of cortisol. They found that momentary reports of
current or anticipated stress predicted increased cortisol secretion 20 minutes
later. Further, and independent of that, the experience of other kinds of negative
affect (e.g., angry, frustrated) also predicted higher levels and the experience
of positive affect (e.g., happy, joyful) predicted lower levels of this important
stress hormone. Taken together, these studies illustrate how researchers can
use ambulatory physiological monitoring to study how the littleand seemingly
trivial and inconsequentialexperiences in our lives leave objective traces in
our bodily systems.
57
Studying Online Behavior

Another domain of daily life that has only recently emerged is virtual daily
behavior or how people act and interact with others on the Internet. Irrespective
of whether social media will turn out to be humanitys blessing or curse (both
scientists and laypeople are currently divided over this question), the fact is that
people are spending an ever increasing amount of time online, which
necessitates that researchers begin to take virtual behavior as serious as actual
behavior and make it a legitimate, on-par target of their investigations (Gosling
& Johnson, 2010).
One way to study virtual behavior is to make use of the fact that most of
what people do on the Webemailing, chatting, tweeting, blogging, posting
leaves direct (and permanent) verbal traces. Differences in the ways in which
people use words (e.g., subtle preferences in word choice) have been found to
carry a lot of psychological information (Pennebaker, Mehl, & Niederhoffer,
2003). Therefore, a good way to study virtual social behavior is to study virtual
language behavior. Researchers can download peoplesoften publicverbal
expressions and communications and analyze them using modern text analysis
programs (e.g., Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007).
For example, Cohn, Mehl, and Pennebaker (2004) downloaded blogs of more
than a thousand users of lifejournal.com, one of the first Internet blogging sites,
to study how people responded socially and emotionally to the attacks of Sept.
11, 2001. In going the online route, they could bypass a critical limitation of
coping research, the inability to obtain baseline information on how people
were doing before the traumatic event occurred. Through access to the
database of public blogs, they downloaded blog entries from two months prior
to two months after the attacks. Their linguistic analyses revealed that in the
first days after the attacks, participants expectedly expressed more negative
emotions and were more cognitively and socially engaged. Already after two
weeks, though, their moods and social engagement returned to baseline, and,
58
interestingly, their use of cognitive-analytic words even dropped below their

normal level. Over the next six weeks, their mood hovered around baseline,
but both their social engagement and cognitive-analytic processing stayed
remarkably lowlikely speaking to a social and cognitive weariness in the
aftermath of the attacks. In using virtual verbal behavior as a psychological
index, this study was able to draw a fine timeline of how humans cope with
disasters.
Reflecting their rapidly growing real-world importance, researchers are now
beginning to investigate behavior on social networking sites such as Facebook
(Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012). Most research looks at psychological
correlates of online behavior, but, importantly, there are also first attempts to
export traditional experimental research designs into a virtual setting. In a
pioneering study of online social influence, Bond et al. (2012) tested
experimentally the effects that peer feedback has on voting behavior.
Remarkably, their sample consisted of 16 million (!) Facebook users. They found
that online political mobilization messages (e.g., I voted accompanied by
selected pictures of their Facebook friends) influenced real-world voting
behaviorand not just for users who saw the messages but also for their friends
and friends of their friends. Although the intervention effect on a single user
was very small, through the enormous number of users and indirect social
contagion effects, it resulted cumulatively in an estimated 340,000 additional
votesenough to tilt a close election. In short, although still in its infancy,
research on virtual daily behavior is bound to change social science, and it has
already helped us better understand both virtual and actual behavior.
59
Smartphone Psychology?
A review of research methods for studying daily life would not be complete
without a vision of whats next. Extrapolating from the ongoing mobile device
revolution, it is safe to predict that smartphones will not just remain devices for
everyday online communication but, rather, will also become devices for
scientific data collection and intervention (Kaplan & Stone, 2013; Yarkoni, 2012).
They automatically store vast amounts of real-world user interaction data, and,
in addition, they are equipped with an array of sensors to track the physical (e.
g., location, position) and social (e.g., wireless connections around the phone)
context of these interactions. Miller (2012, p. 234) states, The question is not
whether smartphones will revolutionize psychology but how, when, and where
the revolution will happen. Obviously, their immense potential for data
collection also brings with it big new challenges for researchers (e.g., privacy
protection, data analysis, and synthesis). Yet, it is clear that many of the methods
described in this chapterand many still to be developed ways of collecting
real-world datawill in the future become integrated into the devices that
people naturally and happily carry with them from the moment they get up in
the morning to the moment they go to bed.
Conclusion
This chapter sought to make a case for psychology research conducted outside
the lab. If the ultimate goal of the social and behavioral sciences is to explain
human behavior, then researchers must alsoin addition to conducting
carefully controlled lab studiesdeal with the messy real world and find ways
to capture life as it naturally happens.
60
Mortensen and Cialdini (2010) refer to the synergistic give and take between
laboratory and field research as full cycle psychology. Going full cycle, they
suggest, means that researchers use naturalistic observation to determine an
effects presence in the real world, theory to determine what processes underlie
the effect, experimentation to verify the effect and its underlying processes,
and a return to the natural environment to corroborate the experimental
findings (Mortensen & Cialdini, 2010, p. 53). To accomplish this, researchers
have access to a toolbox of research methods for studying daily life that is now
more diverse and more versatile than it has ever been before. So, all it takes is
to go ahead andliterallybring science to life.
61
Outside Resources
Website: Society for Ambulatory Assessment
http://www.ambulatory-assessment.org
1. What do you think about the tradeoff between unambiguously establishing
cause and effect (internal validity) and ensuring that research findings apply
to peoples everyday lives (external validity)? Which one of these would you
prioritize as a researcher? Why?
2. What challenges do you see that daily-life researchers may face in their
studies? How can they be overcome?
3. What ethical issues can come up in daily-life studies? How can (or should)
they be addressed?
4. How do you think smartphones and other mobile electronic devices will
change psychological research? What are their promises for the field? And
what are their pitfalls?
Vocabulary
Ambulatory assessment
An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior,
physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings.
Daily Diary method

A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their
thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the day at the end of the day.
Day reconstruction method (DRM)

A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of
a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following
day.
Ecological momentary assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that repeatedly sample
participants real-world experiences, behavior, and physiology in real time.
Ecological validity
The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that
are typical for what happens in everyday life.
Electronically activated recorder, or EAR

A methodology where participants wear a small, portable audio recorder that
intermittently records snippets of ambient sounds around them.
Experience sampling method

A methodology where participants report on their momentary thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors at different points in time over the course of a day.
External validity
The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context
of a study to some larger population and broader settings.
Full cycle psychology

A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field
study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory
experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and
return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.
Internal validity
The degree to which a cause-effect relationship between two variables has been
unambiguously established.
Linguistic inquiry and word count

A quantitative text analysis methodology that automatically extracts
grammatical and psychological information from a text by counting word
frequencies.
Lived day analysis

A methodology where a research team follows an individual around with a video
camera to objectively document a persons daily life as it is lived.
White coat hypertension

A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital
or doctors office but not in their everyday lives.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Conducting Psychology Research in the Real
World by Matthias R. Mehl is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_US.
Psychophysiological
Methods in Neuroscience
Zachary Infantolino & Gregory A. Miller
University of Delaware, University of California, Los Angeles
nobaproject.com
Abstract
As a generally noninvasive subset of neuroscience methods, psychophysiological
methods are used across a variety of disciplines in order to answer diverse
questions about psychology, both mental events and behavior. Many different
techniques are classified as psychophysiological. Each technique has its
strengths and weaknesses, and knowing them allows researchers to decide
what each offers for a particular question. Additionally, this knowledge allows
research consumers to evaluate the meaning of the results in a particular
experiment.
Learning Objectives
Learn what qualifies as psychophysiology within the broader field of

neuroscience.
Review and compare several examples of psychophysiological methods.
Understand advantages and disadvantages of different psychophysiological

methods.
History
In the mid-19th century, a railroad worker named Phineas Gage was in charge
of setting explosive charges for blasting through rock in order to prepare a path
for railroad tracks. He would lay the charge in a hole drilled into the rock, place
a fuse and sand on top of the charge, and pack it all down using a tamping iron
(a solid iron rod approximately one yard long and a little over an inch in
diameter). On a September afternoon when Gage was performing this task, his
tamping iron caused a spark that set off the explosive prematurely, sending the
tamping iron flying through the air. Unfortunately for Gage, his head was above
the hole and the tamping iron entered the side of his face, passed behind his
left eye, and exited out of the top of his head, eventually landing 80 feet away.
Gage lost a portion of his left frontal lobe in the accident, but survived and lived
for another 12 years. What is most interesting from a psychological perspective
is that Gages personality changed as a result of this accident. He became more
impulsive, he had trouble carrying out plans, and, at times, he engaged in vulgar
profanity, which was out of character. This case study leads one to believe that
there are specific areas of the brain that are associated with certain
psychological phenomena. When studying psychology, the brain is indeed an
interesting source of information. Although it would be impossible to replicate
the type of damage done to Gage in the name of research, methods have
developed over the years that are able to safely measure different aspects of
nervous system activity in order to help researchers better understand
psychology as well as the relationship between psychology and biology.
nobaproject.com - Psychophysiological Methods in Neuroscience
77
Introduction
Psychophysiology is defined as any research in which the dependent variable
(what the researcher measures) is a physiological measure, and the
independent variable (what the researcher manipulates) is behavioral or
mental. In most cases the work is done noninvasively with awake human
participants. Physiological measures take many forms and range from blood
flow or neural activity in the brain to heart rate variability and eye movements.
These measures can provide information about processes including emotion,
cognition, and the interactions between them. In these ways, physiological
measures offer a very flexible set of tools for researchers to answer questions
about behavior, cognition, and health.
Psychophysiological methods are a subset of the very large domain of
neuroscience methods. Many neuroscience methods are invasive, such as
involving lesions of neural tissue, injection of neutrally active chemicals, or
manipulation of neural activity via electrical stimulation. The present survey
emphasizes noninvasive methods widely used with human subjects.
Crucially, in examining the relationship between physiology and overt
behavior or mental events, psychophysiology does not attempt to replace the
latter with the former. As an example, happiness is a state of pleasurable
contentment and is associated with various physiological measures, but one
would not say that those physiological measures are happiness. We can make
inferences about someones cognitive or emotional state based on his or her
self-report, physiology, or overt behavior. Sometimes our interest is primarily
in inferences about internal events and sometimes primarily in the physiology
itself. Psychophysiology addresses both kinds of goals.
78
Central Nervous System (CNS)

This chapter provides an overview of several popular psychophysiological
methods, though it is far from exhaustive. Each method can draw from a broad
range of data-analysis strategies to provide an even more expansive set of tools.
The psychophysiological methods discussed below focus on the central nervous
system. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) is a noninvasive
technique that allows researchers and clinicians to view anatomical structures
within a human. The participant is placed in a magnetic field that may be 66,000
times greater than the Earths magnetic field, which causes a small portion of
the atoms in his or her body to line up in the same direction. The body is then
pulsed with low-energy radio frequencies that are absorbed by the atoms in
the body, causing them to tip over. As these atoms return to their aligned state,
they give off energy in the form of harmless electromagnetic radiation, which
is measured by the machine. The machine then transforms the measured
energy into a three-dimensional picture of the tissue within the body. In
psychophysiology research, this image may be used to compare the size of
structures in different groups of people (e.g., are areas associated with pleasure
smaller in individuals with depression?) or to increase the accuracy of spatial
locations as measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a method that is used to
assess changes in activity of tissue, such as measuring changes in neural activity
in different areas of the brain during thought. This technique builds on the
principles of sMRI and also uses the property that, when neurons fire, they use
energy, which must be replenished. Glucose and oxygen, two key components
for energy production, are supplied to the brain from the blood stream as
needed. Oxygen is transported through the blood using hemoglobin, which
contains binding sites for oxygen. When these sites are saturated with oxygen,
it is referred to as oxygenated hemoglobin. When the oxygen molecules have
all been released from a hemoglobin molecule, it is known as deoxygenated
79
hemoglobin. As a set of neurons begin firing, oxygen in the blood surrounding

those neurons is consumed, leading to a reduction in oxygenated hemoglobin.
The body then compensates and provides an abundance of oxygenated
hemoglobin in the blood surrounding that activated neural tissue. When activity
in that neural tissue declines, the level of oxygenated hemoglobin slowly returns
to its original level, which typically takes several seconds.
fMRI measures the change in the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin,
which is known as the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal. This leads
to two important facts about fMRI. First, fMRI measures blood volume and blood
flow, and from this we infer neural activity; fMRI does not measure neural activity
directly. Second, fMRI data typically have poor temporal resolution (the
precision of measurement with respect to time); however, when combined with
sMRI, fMRI provides excellent spatial resolution (the ability to distinguish one
object from another in space). Temporal resolution for fMRI is typically on the
order of seconds, whereas its spatial resolution is on the order of millimeters.
Under most conditions there is an inverse relationship between temporal and
spatial resolutionone can increase temporal resolution at the expense of
spatial resolution and vice versa.
This method is valuable for identifying specific areas of the brain that are
associated with different physical or psychological tasks. Clinically, fMRI may
be used prior to neurosurgery in order to identify areas that are associated with
language so that the surgeon can avoid those areas during the operation. fMRI
allows researchers to identify differential or convergent patterns of activation
associated with tasks. For example, if participants are shown words on a screen
and are expected to indicate the color of the letters, are the same brain areas
recruited for this task if the words have emotional content or not? Does this
relationship change in psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression?
Is there a different pattern of activation even in the absence of overt
performance differences? fMRI is an excellent tool for comparing brain
activation in different tasks and/or populations. Figure 1 provides an example
80
of results from fMRI analyses overlaid on an sMRI image. The blue and orange
shapes represent areas with significant changes in the BOLD signal, thus
changes in neural activation.
Figure 1. Example of fMRI analyses overlaid on an sMRI image. The orange area indicates
an increase in the BOLD signal, and the blue area indicates a decrease in the BOLD signal. We
infer that neural activity increased in the orange region and decreased in the blue region.
Electroencephalography (EEG) is another technique for studying brain

activation. This technique uses at least two and sometimes up to 256 electrodes
to measure the difference in electrical charge (the voltage) between pairs of
points on the head. These electrodes are typically fastened to a flexible cap
(similar to a swimming cap) that is placed on the participants head. From the
scalp, the electrodes measure the electrical activity that is naturally occurring
within the brain. They do not introduce any new electrical activity. In contrast
to fMRI, EEG measures neural activity directly, rather than a correlate of that
activity.
Electrodes used in EEG can also be placed within the skull, resting directly
on the brain itself. This application, called electrocorticography (ECoG), is
typically used prior to medical procedures for localizing activity, such as the
origin of epileptic seizures. This invasive procedure allows for more precise
localization of neural activity, which is essential in medical applications.
However, it is generally not justifiable to open a persons skull solely for research
81
purposes, and instead electrodes are placed on the participants scalp, resulting
in a noninvasive technique for measuring neural activity.
Given that this electrical activity must travel through the skull and scalp
before reaching the electrodes, localization of activity is less precise when
measuring from the scalp, but it can still be within several millimeters when
localizing activity that is near the scalp. One major advantage of EEG is its
temporal resolution. Data can be recorded thousands of times per second,
allowing researchers to document events that happen in less than a millisecond.
EEG analyses typically investigate the change in amplitude or frequency
components of the recorded EEG on an ongoing basis or averaged over dozens
of trials (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Example of EEG analysis output. Panel A represents changes in the relative
strength of different frequencies in the EEG data over time. Panel B represents changes in the
amplitude in the instantaneous EEG voltage over time.
82
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is another technique for noninvasively

measuring neural activity. The flow of electrical charge (the current) associated
with neural activity produces very weak magnetic fields that can be detected
by sensors placed near the participants scalp. The number of sensors used
varies from a few to several hundred. Due to the fact that the magnetic fields
of interest are so small, special rooms that are shielded from magnetic fields
in the environment are needed in order to avoid contamination of the signal
being measured. MEG has the same excellent temporal resolution as EEG.
Additionally, MEG is not as susceptible to distortions from the skull and scalp.
Magnetic fields are able to pass through the hard and soft tissue relatively
unchanged, thus providing better spatial resolution than EEG. MEG analytic
strategies are nearly identical to those used in EEG. However, the MEG recording
apparatus is much more expensive than EEG, so MEG is much less widely
available.
EEG and MEG are both excellent for elucidating the temporal dynamics of
neural processes. For example, if someone is reading a sentence that ends with
an unexpected word (e.g., Michelle is going outside to water the book), how
long after he or she reads the unexpected word does he or she recognize this
as unexpected? In addition to these types of questions, EEG and MEG methods
allow researchers to investigate the degree to which different parts of the brain
talk to each other. This allows for a better understanding of brain networks,
such as their role in different tasks and how they may function abnormally in
psychopathology.
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique that is
used to measure processes in the body, including the brain. This method relies
on a positron-emitting tracer atom that is introduced into the blood stream in
a biologically active molecule, such as glucose, water, or ammonia. A positron
is a particle much like an electron but with a positive charge. One example of
a biologically active molecule is fludeoxyglucose, which acts similarly to glucose
in the body. Fludeoxyglucose will concentrate in areas where glucose is needed
83
commonly areas with higher metabolic needs. Over time, this tracer molecule
emits positrons, which are detected by a sensor. The spatial location of the
tracer molecule in the brain can be determined based on the emitted positrons.
This allows researchers to construct a three-dimensional image of the areas of
the brain that have the highest metabolic needs, typically those that are most
active. Images resulting from PET usually represent neural activity that has
occurred over tens of minutes, which is very poor temporal resolution for some
purposes. PET images are often combined with computed tomography (CT)
images to improve spatial resolution, as fine as several millimeters. Tracers can
also be incorporated into molecules that bind to neurotransmitter receptors,
which allow researchers to answer some unique questions about the action of
neurotransmitters. Unfortunately, very few research centers have the
equipment required to obtain the images or the special equipment needed to
create the positron-emitting tracer molecules, which typically need to be
produced on site.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive method that causes
depolarization or hyperpolarization in neurons near the scalp. This method
is not considered psychophysiological because the independent variable is
physiological, rather than the dependent. However, it does qualify as a
neuroscience method because it deals with the function of the nervous system,
and it can readily be combined with conventional psychophysiological methods.
In TMS, a coil of wire is placed just above the participants scalp. When electricity
flows through the coil, it produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field travels
through the skull and scalp and affects neurons near the surface of the brain.
When the magnetic field is rapidly turned on and off, a current is induced in the
neurons, leading to depolarization or hyperpolarization, depending on the
number of magnetic field pulses. Single- or paired-pulse TMS depolarizes sitespecific neurons in the cortex, causing them to fire. If this method is used over
primary motor cortex, it can produce or block muscle activity, such as inducing
a finger twitch or preventing someone from pressing a button. If used over
84
primary visual cortex, it can produce sensations of flashes of light or impair

visual processes. This has proved to be a valuable tool in studying the function
and timing of specific processes such as the recognition of visual stimuli.
Repetitive TMS produces effects that last longer than the initial stimulation.
Depending on the intensity, coil orientation, and frequency, neural activity in
the stimulated area may be either attenuated or amplified. Used in this manner,
TMS is able to explore neural plasticity, which is the ability of connections
between neurons to change. This has implications for treating psychological
disorders as well as understanding long-term changes in neuronal excitability.
Peripheral Nervous System

The psychophysiological methods discussed above focus on the central nervous
system. Considerable research has also focused on the peripheral nervous
system. These methods include skin conductance, cardiovascular responses,
muscle activity, pupil diameter, eye blinks, and eye movements. Skin
conductance, for example, measures the electrical conductance (the inverse of
resistance) between two points on the skin, which varies with the level of
moisture. Sweat glands are responsible for this moisture and are controlled by
the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Increases in skin conductance can be
associated with changes in psychological activity. For example, studying skin
conductance allows a researcher to investigate whether psychopaths react to
fearful pictures in a normal way. Skin conductance provides relatively poor
temporal resolution, with the entire response typically taking several seconds
to emerge and resolve. However, it is an easy way to measure SNS response to
a variety of stimuli.
Cardiovascular measures include heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood
pressure. The heart is innervated by the parasympathetic nervous system
(PNS) and SNS. Input from the PNS decreases heart rate and contractile
strength, whereas input from the SNS increases heart rate and contractile
85
strength. Heart rate can easily be monitored using a minimum of two electrodes
and is measured by counting the number of heartbeats in a given time period,
such as one minute, or by assessing the time between successive heartbeats.
Psychological activity can prompt increases and decreases in heart rate, often
in less than a second, making heart rate a sensitive measure of cognition.
Measures of heart rate variability are concerned with consistency in the time
interval between heartbeats. Changes in heart rate variability are associated
with stress as well as psychiatric conditions. Figure 3 is an example of an
electrocardiogram, which is used to measure heart rate and heart rate
variability. These cardiovascular measures allow researchers to monitor SNS
and PNS reactivity to various stimuli or situations. For example, when an
arachnophobe views pictures of spiders, does their heart rate increase more
than that of a person not afraid of spiders?
Figure 3. Example of electrocardiogram. The number of strong negative spikes in the

output during a given period of time represents the heart rate, whereas the difference in the
spacing between those strong negative spikes represents the heart rate variability.
Electromyography (EMG) measures electrical activity produced by skeletal

muscles. Similar to EEG, EMG measures the voltage between two points. This
technique can be used to determine when a participant first initiates muscle
activity to engage in a motor response to a stimulus or the degree to which a
participant begins to engage in an incorrect response (such as pressing the
86
wrong button), even if it is never visibly executed. It has also been used in
emotion research to identify activity in muscles that are used to produce smiles
and frowns. Using EMG, it is possible to detect very small facial movements that
are not observable from looking at the face. The temporal resolution of EMG is
similar to that of EEG and MEG.
Valuable information can also be gleaned from eye blinks, eye movements,
and pupil diameter. Eye blinks are most often assessed using EMG electrodes
placed just below the eyelid, but electrical activity associated directly with eye
blinks or eye movements can be measured with electrodes placed on the face
near the eyes, because there is voltage across the entire eyeball. Another option
for the measurement of eye movement is a camera used to record video of an
eye. This video method is particularly valuable when determination of absolute
direction of gaze (not just change in direction of gaze) is of interest, such as
when the eyes scan a picture. With the help of a calibration period in which a
participant looks at multiple, known targets, eye position is then extracted from
each video frame during the main task and compared with data from the
calibration phase, allowing researchers to identify the sequence, direction, and
duration of gaze fixations. For example, when viewing pleasant or unpleasant
images, people spend different amounts of time looking at the most arousing
parts. This, in turn, can vary as a function of psychopathology. Additionally, the
diameter of a participants pupil can be measured and recorded over time from
the video record. As with heart rate, pupil diameter is controlled by competing
inputs from the SNS and PNS. Pupil diameter is commonly used as an index of
mental effort when performing a task.
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When to Use What

As the reader, you may be wondering, how do I know what tool is right for a
given question? Generally, there are no definitive answers. If you wanted to
know the temperature in the morning, would you check your phone? Look
outside to see how warm it looks? Ask your roommate what he or she is wearing
today? Look to see what other people are wearing? There is not a single way to
answer the question. The same is true for research questions. However, there
are some guidelines that one can consider. For example, if you are interested
in what brain structures are associated with cognitive control, you wouldnt use
peripheral nervous system measures. A technique such as fMRI or PET might
be more appropriate. If you are interested in how cognitive control unfolds over
time, EEG or MEG would be a good choice. If you are interested in studying the
bodily response to fear in different groups of people, peripheral nervous system
measures might be most appropriate. The key to deciding what method is most
appropriate is properly defining the question that you are trying to answer.
What aspects are most interesting? Do you care about identifying the most
relevant brain structures? Temporal dynamics? Bodily responses? Then, it is
important to think about the strengths and weaknesses of the different
psychophysiological measures and pick one, or several, whose attributes work
best for the question at hand. In fact, it is common to record several at once.
Conclusion
The outline of psychophysiological methods above provides a glimpse into the
exciting techniques that are available to researchers studying a broad range of
topics from clinical to social to cognitive psychology. Some of the most
interesting psychophysiological studies use several methods, such as in sleep
assessments or multimodal neuroimaging. Psychophysiological methods have
applications outside of mainstream psychology in areas where psychological
88
phenomena are central, such as economics, health-related decision making,

and braincomputer interfaces. Examples of applications for each method are
provided above, but this list is by no means exhaustive. Furthermore, the field
is continually evolving, with new methods and new applications being
developed. The wide variety of methods and applications provide virtually
limitless possibilities for researchers.
89
Outside Resources
Book: Luck, S. J. (2005). An introduction to the event-related potential
technique. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Book: Poldrack, R. A., Mumford, J. A., & Nichols, T. E. (2011). Handbook of

functional MRI data analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Web: For a list of additional psychophysiology teaching materials:

http://www.sprweb.org/teaching/index.cfm
Web: For visualizations on MRI physics (requires a free registration):
http://www.imaios.com/en/e-Courses/e-MRI/NMR/
1. Pick
a psychological phenomenon that you would like to know more
about. What
specific hypothesis would you like to test? What
psychophysiological
methods might be appropriate for testing this
hypothesis and why?

2. What types of questions would require high spatial resolution in measuring
brain activity? What types of questions would require high temporal
resolution?
3. Take
the hypothesis you picked in the first question, and choose what
you think would be the best psychophysiological method. What additional

information
could you obtain using a complementary method? For
example, if you want to
learn about memory, what two methods could
you use that would each provide

4. The
contain
popular press has shown an increasing interest in findings that

images of brains and neuroscience language. Studies have shown
that people
more
you with distinct information?
often find presentations of results that contain these features
convincing than presentations of results that do not, even if the
actual
results are the same. Why would images of the brain and
neuroscience
language be more convincing to people? Given that results
with these
features are more convincing, what do you think is the
researchers
responsibility in reporting results with brain images and
neuroscience
language?
5. Many claims in the popular press attempt to reduce complex psychological

phenomena to biological events. For example, you may have heard it said
that schizophrenia is a brain disorder or that depression is simply a
chemical imbalance. However, this type of reductionism so far does not

appear to be tenable. There has been surprisingly little discussion of
possible causal relationships, in either direction, between biological and
psychological phenomena. We are aware of no such documented causal
mechanisms. Do you think that it will ever be possible to explain how a
change in biology can result in a change of a psychological phenomenon,
or
vice versa?
Vocabulary
Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD)
The signal typically measured in fMRI that results from changes in the ratio of
oxygenated hemoglobin to deoxygenated hemoglobin in the blood.
Central nervous system

The part of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord.
Deoxygenated hemoglobin
Hemoglobin not carrying oxygen.
Depolarization
A change in a cells membrane potential, making the inside of the cell more
positive and increasing the chance of an action potential.
Hemoglobin
The oxygen-carrying portion of a red blood cell.
Hyperpolarization
A change in a cells membrane potential, making the inside of the cell more
negative and decreasing the chance of an action potential.
Invasive Procedure
A procedure that involves the skin being broken or an instrument or chemical
being introduced into a body cavity.
Lesions
Abnormalities in the tissue of an organism usually caused by disease or trauma.
Neural plasticity
The ability of synapses and neural pathways to change over time and adapt to
changes in neural process, behavior, or environment.
Neuroscience methods
A research method that deals with the structure or function of the nervous
system and brain.
Noninvasive procedure
A procedure that does not require the insertion of an instrument or chemical
through the skin or into a body cavity.
Oxygenated hemoglobin
Hemoglobin carrying oxygen.
Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)
One of the two major divisions of the autonomic nervous system, responsible
for stimulation of rest and digest activities.
Peripheral nervous system
The part of the nervous system that is outside the brain and spinal cord.
Positron
A particle having the same mass and numerically equal but positive charge as
an electron.
Psychophysiological methods
Any research method in which the dependent variable is a physiological
measure and the independent variable is behavioral or mental (such as
memory).
Spatial resolution
The degree to which one can separate a single object in space from another.
Sympathetic nervous system (SNS)
One of the two major divisions of the autonomic nervous system, responsible
for stimulation of fight or flight activities.
Temporal resolution
The degree to which one can separate a single point in time from another.
Voltage
The difference in electric charge between two points.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Psychophysiological Methods in Neuroscience

by Zachary Infantolino and Gregory A. Miller is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this
license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_US.
Statistical Thinking
Beth Chance & Allan Rossman
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
nobaproject.com
Abstract
As our society increasingly calls for evidence-based decision making, it is
important to consider how and when we can draw valid inferences from data.
This chapter will use four recent research studies to highlight key elements of
a statistical investigation.
Learning Objectives
Define basic elements of a statistical investigation.
Describe the role of p-values and confidence intervals in statistical inference.
Describe the role of random sampling in generalizing conclusions from a

sample to a population.
Describe the role of random assignment in drawing cause-and-effect

conclusions.
Critique statistical studies.
Introduction
Does drinking coffee actually increase your life expectancy? A recent study
(Freedman, Park, Abnet, Hollenbeck, & Sinha, 2012) found that men who drank
at least six cups of coffee a day had a 10% lower chance of dying (women 15%
lower) than those who drank none. Does this mean you should pick up or
increase your own coffee habit?
Modern society has become awash in studies such as this; you can read
about several such studies in the news every day. Moreover, data abound
everywhere in modern life. Conducting such a study well, and interpreting the
results of such studies well for making informed decisions or setting policies,
requires understanding basic ideas of statistics, the science of gaining insight
from data. Rather than relying on anecdote and intuition, statistics allows us to
systematically study phenomena of interest.
Key components to a statistical investigation are:
Planning the study: Start by asking a testable research question and deciding
how to collect data. For example, how long was the study period of the
coffee study? How many people were recruited for the study, how were they
recruited, and from where? How old were they? What other variables were
recorded about the individuals, such as smoking habits, on the
comprehensive lifestyle questionnaires? Were changes made to the
participants coffee habits during the course of the study?
Examining the data: What are appropriate ways to examine the data? What
graphs are relevant, and what do they reveal? What descriptive statistics
can be calculated to summarize relevant aspects of the data, and what do
they reveal? What patterns do you see in the data? Are there any individual
observations that deviate from the overall pattern, and what do they reveal?
For example, in the coffee study, did the proportions differ when we
nobaproject.com - Statistical Thinking
100
compared the smokers to the non-smokers?
Inferring from the data: What are valid statistical methods for drawing
inferences beyond the data you collected? In the coffee study, is the 10%
15% reduction in risk of death something that could have happened just by
chance?
Drawing conclusions: Based on what you learned from your data, what
conclusions can you draw? Who do you think these conclusions apply to?
(Were the people in the coffee study older? Healthy? Living in cities?) Can
you draw a cause-and-effect conclusion about your treatments? (Are
scientists now saying that the coffee drinking is the cause of the decreased
risk of death?)
Notice that the numerical analysis (crunching numbers on the computer)

comprises only a small part of overall statistical investigation. In this chapter,
you will see how we can answer some of these questions and what questions
you should be asking about any statistical investigation you read about.
Distributional Thinking
When data are collected to address a particular question, an important first
step is to think of meaningful ways to organize and examine the data. The most
fundamental principle of statistics is that data vary. The pattern of that variation
is crucial to capture and to understand. Often, careful presentation of the data
will address many of the research questions without requiring more
sophisticated analyses. It may, however, point to additional questions that need
to be examined in more detail.
101
Example 1: Researchers investigated whether cancer pamphlets are written

at an appropriate level to be read and understood by cancer patients (Short,
Moriarty, & Cooley, 1995). Tests of reading ability were given to 63 patients. In
addition, readability level was determined for a sample of 30 pamphlets, based
on characteristics such as the lengths of words and sentences in the pamphlet.
The results, reported in terms of grade levels, are displayed in Table 1.
Table 1. Frequency tables of patient reading levels and pamphlet readability levels.
These two variables reveal two fundamental aspects of statistical thinking:
Data vary. More specifically, values of a variable (such as reading level of a

cancer patient or readability level of a cancer pamphlet) vary.
Analyzing the pattern of variation, called the distribution of the variable,

often reveals insights.
Addressing the research question of whether the cancer pamphlets are

written at appropriate levels for the cancer patients requires comparing the
two distributions. A nave comparison might focus only on the centers of the
distributions. Both medians turn out to be ninth grade, but considering only
medians ignores the variability and the overall distributions of these data. A
more illuminating approach is to compare the entire distributions, for example
with a graph, as in Figure 1.
102
Figure 1. Comparison of patient reading levels and pamphlet readability levels.
Figure 1 makes clear that the two distributions are not well aligned at all.
The most glaring discrepancy is that many patients (17/63, or 27%, to be precise)
have a reading level below that of the most readable pamphlet. These patients
will need help to understand the information provided in the cancer pamphlets.
Notice that this conclusion follows from considering the distributions as a
whole, not simply measures of center or variability, and that the graph contrasts
those distributions more immediately than the frequency tables.
103
Statistical Significance
Even when we find patterns in data, often there is still uncertainty in various
aspects of the data. For example, there may be potential for measurement
errors (even your own body temperature can fluctuate by almost 1 F over the
course of the day). Or we may only have a snapshot of observations from a
more long-term process or only a small subset of individuals from the
population of interest. In such cases, how can we determine whether patterns
we see in our small set of data is convincing evidence of a systematic
phenomenon in the larger process or population?
Example 2: In a study reported in the November 2007 issue of Nature,
researchers investigated whether pre-verbal infants take into account an
individuals actions toward others in evaluating that individual as appealing or
aversive (Hamlin, Wynn, & Bloom, 2007). In one component of the study, 10month-old infants were shown a climber character (a piece of wood with
googly eyes glued onto it) that could not make it up a hill in two tries. Then
the infants were shown two scenarios for the climbers next try, one where the
climber was pushed to the top of the hill by another character (helper), and
one where the climber was pushed back down the hill by another character
(hinderer). The infant was alternately shown these two scenarios several
times. Then the infant was presented with two pieces of wood (representing
the helper and the hinderer characters) and asked to pick one to play with. The
researchers found that of the 16 infants who made a clear choice, 14 chose to
play with the helper toy.
One possible explanation for this clear majority result is that the helping
behavior of the one toy increases the infants likelihood of choosing that toy.
But are there other possible explanations? What about the color of the toy?
Well, prior to collecting the data, the researchers arranged so that each color
and shape (red square and blue circle) would be seen by the same number of
infants. Or maybe the infants had right-handed tendencies and so picked
104
whichever toy was closer to their right hand? Well, prior to collecting the data,
the researchers arranged it so half the infants saw the helper toy on the right
and half on the left. Or, maybe the shapes of these wooden characters (square,
triangle, circle) had an effect? Perhaps, but again, the researchers controlled
for this by rotating which shape was the helper toy, the hinderer toy, and the
climber. When designing experiments, it is important to control for as many
variables as might affect the responses as possible.
It is beginning to appear that the researchers accounted for all the other
plausible explanations. But there is one more important consideration that
cannot be controlledif we did the study again with these 16 infants, they might
not make the same choices. In other words, there is some randomness inherent
in their selection process. Maybe each infant had no genuine preference at all,
and it was simply random luck that led to 14 infants picking the helper toy.
Although this random component cannot be controlled, we can apply a
probability model to investigate the pattern of results that would occur in the
long run if random chance were the only factor.
If the infants were equally likely to pick between the two toys, then each
infant had a 50% chance of picking the helper toy. Its like each infant tossed a
coin, and if it landed heads, the infant picked the helper toy. So if we tossed a
coin 16 times, could it land heads 14 times? Sure, its possible, but it turns out
to be very unlikely. Getting 14 (or more) heads in 16 tosses is about as likely as
tossing a coin and getting 9 heads in a row. This probability is referred to as a
p-value. The p-value tells you how often a random process would give a result
at least as extreme as what was found in the actual study, assuming there was
nothing other than random chance at play. So, if we assume that each infant
was choosing equally, then the probability that 14 or more out of 16 infants
would choose the helper toy is found to be 0.0021. We have only two logical
possibilities: either the infants have a genuine preference for the helper toy, or
the infants have no preference (50/50) and an outcome that would occur only
2 times in 1,000 iterations happened in this study. Because this p-value of 0.0021
105
is quite small, we conclude that the study provides very strong evidence that
these infants have a genuine preference for the helper toy. We often compare
the p-value to some cut-off value (called the level of significance, typically
around 0.05). If the p-value is smaller than that cut-off value, then we reject the
hypothesis that only random chance was at play here. In this case, these
researchers would conclude that significantly more than half of the infants in
the study chose the helper toy, giving strong evidence of a genuine preference
for the toy with the helping behavior.
Generalizability
One limitation to the previous study is that the conclusion only applies to the
16 infants in the study. We dont know much about how those 16 infants were
selected. Suppose we want to select a subset of individuals (a sample) from a
much larger group of individuals (the population) in such a way that conclusions
from the sample can be generalized to the larger population. This is the
question faced by pollsters every day.
Example 3: The General Social Survey (GSS) is a survey on societal trends
conducted every other year in the United States. Based on a sample of about
2,000 adult Americans, researchers make claims about what percentage of the
U.S. population consider themselves to be liberal, what percentage consider
themselves happy, what percentage feel rushed in their daily lives, and many
other issues. The key to making these claims about the larger population of all
American adults lies in how the sample is selected. The goal is to select a sample
that is representative of the population, and a common way to achieve this goal
is to select a random sample that gives every member of the population an
equal chance of being selected for the sample. In its simplest form, random
sampling involves numbering every member of the population and then using
a computer to randomly select the subset to be surveyed. Most polls dont
operate exactly like this, but they do use probability-based sampling methods
106
to select individuals from nationally representative panels.

In 2004, the GSS reported that 817 of 977 respondents (or 83.6%) indicated
that they always or sometimes feel rushed. This is a clear majority, but we again
need to consider variation due to random sampling. Fortunately, we can use
the same probability model we did in the previous example to investigate the
probable size of this error. (Note, we can use the coin-tossing model when the
actual population size is much, much larger than the sample size, as then we
can still consider the probability to be the same for every individual in the
sample.) This probability model predicts that the sample result will be within 3
percentage points of the population value (roughly 1 over the square root of
the sample size, the margin of error). A statistician would conclude, with 95%
confidence, that between 80.6% and 86.6% of all adult Americans in 2004 would
have responded that they sometimes or always feel rushed.
The key to the margin of error is that when we use a probability sampling
method, we can make claims about how often (in the long run, with repeated
random sampling) the sample result would fall within a certain distance from
the unknown population value by chance (meaning by random sampling
variation) alone. Conversely, non-random samples are often suspect to bias,
meaning the sampling method systematically over-represents some segments
of the population and under-represents others. We also still need to consider
other sources of bias, such as individuals not responding honestly. These
sources of error are not measured by the margin of error.
Cause and Effect Conclusions

In many research studies, the primary question of interest concerns differences
between groups. Then the question becomes how were the groups formed (e.
g., selecting people who already drink coffee vs. those who dont). In some
studies, the researchers actively form the groups themselves. But then we have
a similar questioncould any differences we observe in the groups be an
107
artifact of that group-formation process? Or maybe the difference we observe

in the groups is so large that we can discount a fluke in the group-formation
process as a reasonable explanation for what we find?
Example 4: A psychology study investigated whether people tend to display
more creativity when they are thinking about intrinsic or extrinsic motivations
(Ramsey & Schafer, 2002, based on a study by Amabile, 1985). The subjects
were 47 people with extensive experience with creative writing. Subjects began
by answering survey questions about either intrinsic motivations for writing
(such as the pleasure of self-expression) or extrinsic motivations (such as public
recognition). Then all subjects were instructed to write a haiku, and those poems
were evaluated for creativity by a panel of judges. The researchers conjectured
beforehand that subjects who were thinking about intrinsic motivations would
display more creativity than subjects who were thinking about extrinsic
motivations. The creativity scores from the 47 subjects in this study are
displayed in Figure 2, where higher scores indicate more creativity.
Figure 2. Creativity scores separated by type of motivation.
In this example, the key question is whether the type of motivation affects
creativity scores. In particular, do subjects who were asked about intrinsic
motivations tend to have higher creativity scores than subjects who were asked
about extrinsic motivations?
Figure 2 reveals that both motivation groups saw considerable variability in
creativity scores, and these scores have considerable overlap between the
groups. In other words, its certainly not always the case that those with extrinsic
motivations have higher creativity than those with intrinsic motivations, but
108
there may still be a statistical tendency in this direction. (Psychologist Keith

Stanovich (2013) refers to peoples difficulties with thinking about such
probabilistic tendencies as the Achilles heel of human cognition.)
The mean creativity score is 19.88 for the intrinsic group, compared to 15.74
for the extrinsic group, which supports the researchers conjecture. Yet
comparing only the means of the two groups fails to consider the variability of
creativity scores in the groups. We can measure variability with statistics using,
for instance, the standard deviation: 5.25 for the extrinsic group and 4.40 for
the intrinsic group. The standard deviations tell us that most of the creativity
scores are within about 5 points of the mean score in each group. We see that
the mean score for the intrinsic group lies within one standard deviation of the
mean score for extrinsic group. So, although there is a tendency for the creativity
scores to be higher in the intrinsic group, on average, the difference is not
extremely large.
We again want to consider possible explanations for this difference. The
study only involved individuals with extensive creative writing experience.
Although this limits the population to which we can generalize, it does not
explain why the mean creativity score was a bit larger for the intrinsic group
than for the extrinsic group. Maybe women tend to receive higher creativity
scores? Here is where we need to focus on how the individuals were assigned
to the motivation groups. If only women were in the intrinsic motivation group
and only men in the extrinsic group, then this would present a problem because
we wouldnt know if the intrinsic group did better because of the different type
of motivation or because they were women. However, the researchers guarded
against such a problem by randomly assigning the individuals to the motivation
groups. Like flipping a coin, each individual was just as likely to be assigned to
either type of motivation. Why is this helpful? Because this random assignment
tends to balance out all the variables related to creativity we can think of, and
even those we dont think of in advance, between the two groups. So we should
have a similar male/female split between the two groups; we should have a
109
similar age distribution between the two groups; we should have a similar
distribution of educational background between the two groups; and so on.
Random assignment should produce groups that are as similar as possible
except for the type of motivation, which presumably eliminates all those other
variables as possible explanations for the observed tendency for higher scores
in the intrinsic group.
But does this always work? No, so by luck of the draw the groups may be
a little different prior to answering the motivation survey. So then the question
is, is it possible that an unlucky random assignment is responsible for the
observed difference in creativity scores between the groups? In other words,
suppose each individuals poem was going to get the same creativity score no
matter which group they were assigned to, that the type of motivation in no
way impacted their score. Then how often would the random-assignment
process alone lead to a difference in mean creativity scores as large (or larger)
than 19.88 15.74 = 4.14 points?
We again want to apply to a probability model to approximate a p-value, but
this time the model will be a bit different. Think of writing everyones creativity
scores on an index card, shuffling up the index cards, and then dealing out 23
to the extrinsic motivation group and 24 to the intrinsic motivation group, and
finding the difference in the group means. We (better yet, the computer) can
repeat this process over and over to see how often, when the scores dont
change, random assignment leads to a difference in means at least as large as
4.41. Figure 3 shows the results from 1,000 such hypothetical random
assignments for these scores.
110
Figure 3. Differences in group means under random assignment alone.

111
Only 2 of the 1,000 simulated random assignments produced a difference
even though percent reduction in risk was not extremely large (dropping
from a 12% chance to about 10%11%).
Whether coffee was caffeinated or decaffeinated did not appear to affect

the results.
This was an observational study, so no cause-and-effect conclusions can be

drawn between coffee drinking and increased longevity, contrary to the
impression conveyed by many news headlines about this study. In
particular, its possible that those with chronic diseases dont tend to drink
coffee.
This study needs to be reviewed in the larger context of similar studies and
consistency of results across studies, with the constant caution that this was
not a randomized experiment. Whereas a statistical analysis can still adjust
for other potential confounding variables, we are not yet convinced that
researchers have identified them all or completely isolated why this decrease
in death risk is evident. Researchers can now take the findings of this study and
develop more focused studies that address new questions.
112
Outside Resources
Apps: Interactive web applets for teaching and learning statistics include the
collection at
http://www.rossmanchance.com/applets/
Web: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/index.html
Web: The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics
https://www.causeweb.org/
1. Find a recent research article in your field and answer the following: What
was the primary research question? How were individuals selected to
participate in the study? Were summary results provided? How strong is the
evidence presented in favor or against the research question? Was random
assignment used? Summarize the main conclusions from the study,
addressing the issues of statistical significance, statistical confidence,
generalizability, and cause and effect. Do you agree with the conclusions
drawn from this study, based on the study design and the results presented?
2. Is it reasonable to use a random sample of 1,000 individuals to draw
conclusions about all U.S. adults? Explain why or why not.
Vocabulary
Cause-and-effect
Related to whether we say one variable is causing changes in the other variable,
versus other variables that may be related to these two variables.
Confidence interval
An interval of plausible values for a population parameter; the interval of values
within the margin of error of a statistic.
Distribution
The pattern of variation in data.
Generalizability
Related to whether the results from the sample can be generalized to a larger
population.
Margin of error
The expected amount of random variation in a statistic; often defined for 95%
confidence level.
Parameter
A numerical result summarizing a population (e.g., mean, proportion).
Population
A larger collection of individuals that we would like to generalize our results to.
P-value
The probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme,
under a conjecture about the larger population or process.
Random assignment
Using a probability-based method to divide a sample into treatment groups.
Random sampling
Using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the
sample from the population.
Sample
The collection of individuals on which we collect data.
Statistic
A numerical result computed from a sample (e.g., mean, proportion).
Statistical significance
A result is statistically significant if it is unlikely to arise by chance alone.
Reference List
Amabile, T. (1985). Motivation and creativity: Effects of motivational orientation
on creative writers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(2), 393
399.
Freedman, N. D., Park, Y., Abnet, C. C., Hollenbeck, A. R., & Sinha, R. (2012).
Association of coffee drinking with total and cause-specific mortality. New
England Journal of Medicine, 366, 18911904.
Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants.
Nature, 452(22), 557560.
Ramsey, F., & Schafer, D. (2002). The statistical sleuth: A course in methods of
data analysis. Belmont, CA: Duxbury.
Short, T., Moriarty, H., & Cooley, M. E. (1995). Readability of educational materials
for patients with cancer. Journal of Statistics Education, 3(2).
Stanovich, K. (2013). How to think straight about psychology (10th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Statistical Thinking by Beth Chance and Allan
Rossman is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
History of Psychology
David B. Baker & Heather Sperry
University of Akron, The University of Akron
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction and overview of the historical
development of the science and practice of psychology in America. Everincreasing specialization within the field often makes it difficult to discern the
common roots from which the field of psychology has evolved. By exploring
this shared past, students will be better able to understand how psychology
has developed into the discipline we know today.
Learning Objectives
Describe the precursors to the establishment of the science of psychology.
Identify key individuals and events in the history of American psychology.
Describe the rise of professional psychology in America.
Introduction
It is always a difficult question to ask, where to begin to tell the story of the
history of psychology. Some would start with ancient Greece; others would look
to a demarcation in the late 19th century when the science of psychology was
formally proposed and instituted. These two perspectives, and all that is in
between, are appropriate for describing a history of psychology. The interested
student will have no trouble finding an abundance of resources on all of these
time frames and perspectives (Goodwin, 2011; Leahey, 2012; Schultz & Schultz,
2007). For the purposes of this chapter, we will examine the development of
psychology in America and use the mid-19th century as our starting point. For
the sake of convenience, we refer to this as a history of modern psychology.
Psychology is an exciting field and the history of psychology offers the
opportunity to make sense of how it has grown and developed. The history of
psychology also provides perspective. Rather than a dry collection of names
and dates, the history of psychology tells us about the important intersection
of time and place that defines who we are. Consider what happens when you
meet someone for the first time. The conversation usually begins with a series
of questions such as, Where did you grow up? How long have you lived here?
Where did you go to school? The importance of history in defining who we
are cannot be understated. Whether you are seeing a physician, talking with a
counselor, or applying for a job, everything begins with a history. The same is
true for studying the history of psychology; getting a history of the field helps
to make sense of where we are and how we got here.
nobaproject.com - History of Psychology
122
A Prehistory of Psychology
Precursors to American psychology can be found in philosophy and physiology.
Philosophers such as John Locke (16321704) and Thomas Reid (17101796)
promoted empiricism, the idea that all knowledge comes from experience. The
work of Locke, Reid, and others emphasized the role of the human observer
and the primacy of the senses in defining how the mind comes to acquire
knowledge. In American colleges and universities in the early 1800s, these
principles were taught as courses on mental and moral philosophy. Most often
these courses taught about the mind based on the faculties of intellect, will,
and the senses (Fuchs, 2000).
Physiology and Psychophysics

Philosophical questions about the nature of mind and knowledge were matched
in the 19th century by physiological investigations of the sensory systems of
the human observer. German physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821
1894) measured the speed of the neural impulse and explored the physiology
of hearing and vision. His work indicated that our senses can deceive us and
are not a mirror of the external world. Such work showed that even though the
human senses were fallible, the mind could be measured using the methods
of science. In all, it suggested that a science of psychology was feasible.
An important implication of Helmholtzs work was that there is a
psychological reality and a physical reality and that the two are not identical.
This was not a new idea; philosophers like John Locke had written extensively
on the topic, and in the 19th century, philosophical speculation about the nature
of mind became subject to the rigors of science.
123
The question of the relationship between the mental (experiences of the

senses) and the material (external reality) was investigated by a number of
German researchers including Ernst Weber and Gustav Fechner. Their work
was called psychophysics, and it introduced methods for measuring the
relationship between physical stimuli and human perception that would serve
as the basis for the new science of psychology (Fancher & Rutherford, 2011).
The formal development of modern psychology is usually credited to the
work of German physician, physiologist, and philosopher Wilhelm Wundt
(18321920). Wundt helped to establish the field of experimental psychology
by serving as a strong promoter of the idea that psychology could be an
experimental field and by providing classes, textbooks, and a laboratory for
training students. In 1875, he joined the faculty at the University of Leipzig and
quickly began to make plans for the creation of a program of experimental
psychology. In 1879, he complemented his lectures on experimental psychology
with a laboratory experience: an event that has served as the popular date for
the establishment of the science of psychology.
The response to the new science was immediate and global. Wundt attracted
students from around the world to study the new experimental psychology and
work in his lab. Students were trained to offer detailed self-reports of their
reactions to various stimuli, a procedure known as introspection. The goal was
to identify the elements of consciousness. In addition to the study of sensation
and perception, research was done on mental chronometry, more commonly
known as reaction time. The work of Wundt and his students demonstrated
that the mind could be measured and the nature of consciousness could be
revealed through scientific means. It was an exciting proposition, and one that
found great interest in America. After the opening of Wundts lab in 1879, it took
just four years for the first psychology laboratory to open in the United States
(Benjamin, 2007).
124
Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States

Wundts version of psychology arrived in America most visibly through the work
of Edward Bradford Titchener (18671927). A student of Wundts, Titchener
brought to America a brand of experimental psychology referred to as
structuralism. Structuralists were interested in the contents of the mind
what the mind is. For Titchener, the general adult mind was the proper focus
for the new psychology, and he excluded from study those with mental
deficiencies, children, and animals (Evans, 1972; Titchener, 1909).
Experimental psychology spread rather rapidly throughout North America.
By 1900, there were more than 40 laboratories in the United States and Canada
(Benjamin, 2000). Psychology in America also organized early with the
establishment of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892.
Titchener felt that this new organization did not adequately represent the
interests of experimental psychology, so, in 1904, he organized a group of
colleagues to create what is now known as the Society of Experimental
Psychologists (Goodwin, 1985). The group met annually to discuss research in
experimental psychology. Reflecting the times, women researchers were not
invited (or welcome). It is interesting to note that Titcheners first doctoral
student was a woman, Margaret Floy Washburn (18711939). Despite many
barriers, in 1894, Washburn became the first woman in America to earn a Ph.
D. in psychology and, in 1921, only the second woman to be elected president
of the American Psychological Association (Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
Striking a balance between the science and practice of psychology continues
to this day. In 1988, the American Psychological Society (now known as the
Association for Psychological Science) was founded with the central mission of
advancing psychological science.
125
Toward a Functional Psychology

While Titchener and his followers adhered to a structural psychology, others in
America were pursuing different approaches. William James, G. Stanley Hall,
and James McKeen Cattell were among a group that became identified with
functionalism. Influenced by Darwins evolutionary theory, functionalists
were interested in the activities of the mindwhat the mind does. An interest
in functionalism opened the way for the study of a wide range of approaches,
including animal and comparative psychology (Benjamin, 2007).
William James (18421910) is regarded as writing perhaps the most
influential and important book in the field of psychology, Principles of
Psychology, published in 1890. Opposed to the reductionist ideas of Titchener,
James proposed that consciousness is ongoing and continuous; it cannot be
isolated and reduced to elements. For James, consciousness helped us adapt
to our environment in such ways as allowing us to make choices and have
personal responsibility over those choices.
At Harvard, James occupied a position of authority and respect in psychology
and philosophy. Through his teaching and writing, he influenced psychology
for generations. One of his students, Mary Whiton Calkins (18631930), faced
many of the challenges that confronted Margaret Floy Washburn and other
women interested in pursuing graduate education in psychology. With much
persistence, Calkins was able to study with James at Harvard. She eventually
completed all the requirements for the doctoral degree, but Harvard refused
to grant her a diploma because she was a woman. Despite these challenges,
Calkins went on to become an accomplished researcher and the first woman
elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1905
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
126
G. Stanley Hall (18441924) made substantial and lasting contributions to

the establishment of psychology in the United States. At Johns Hopkins
University, he founded the first psychological laboratory in America in 1883. In
1887, he created the first journal of psychology in America, American Journal
of Psychology. In 1892, he founded the American Psychological Association
(APA); in 1909, he invited and hosted Freud at Clark University (the only time
Freud visited America). Influenced by evolutionary theory, Hall was interested
in the process of adaptation and human development. Using surveys and
questionnaires to study children, Hall wrote extensively on child development
and education. While graduate education in psychology was restricted for
women in Halls time, it was all but non-existent for African Americans. In
another first, Hall mentored Francis Cecil Sumner (18951954) who, in 1920,
became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in America
(Guthrie, 2003).
James McKeen Cattell (18601944) received his Ph.D. with Wundt but quickly
turned his interests to the assessment of individual differences. Influenced by
the work of Darwins cousin, Frances Galton, Cattell believed that mental abilities
such as intelligence were inherited and could be measured using mental tests.
Like Galton, he believed society was better served by identifying those with
superior intelligence and supported efforts to encourage them to reproduce.
Such beliefs were associated with eugenics (the promotion of selective
breeding) and fueled early debates about the contributions of heredity and
environment in defining who we are. At Columbia University, Cattell developed
a department of psychology that became world famous also promoting
psychological science through advocacy and as a publisher of scientific journals
and reference works (Fancher, 1987; Sokal, 1980).
127
The Growth of Psychology

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, psychology continued to grow and
flourish in America. It was large enough to accommodate varying points of view
on the nature of mind and behavior. Gestalt psychology is a good example.
The Gestalt movement began in Germany with the work of Max Wertheimer
(18801943). Opposed to the reductionist approach of Wundts laboratory
psychology, Wertheimer and his colleagues Kurt Koffka (18861941), Wolfgang
Kohler (18871967), and Kurt Lewin (18901947) believed that studying the
whole of any experience was richer than studying individual aspects of that
experience. The saying the whole is greater than the sum of its parts is a
Gestalt perspective. Consider that a melody is an additional element beyond
the collection of notes that comprise it. The Gestalt psychologists proposed that
the mind often processes information simultaneously rather than sequentially.
For instance, when you look at a photograph, you see a whole image, not just
a collection of pixels of color. Using Gestalt principles, Wertheimer and his
colleagues also explored the nature of learning and thinking. Most of the
German Gestalt psychologists were Jewish and were forced to flee the Nazi
regime due to the threats posed on both academic and personal freedoms. In
America, they were able to introduce a new audience to the Gestalt perspective,
demonstrating how it could be applied to perception and learning (Wertheimer,
1938). In many ways, the work of the Gestalt psychologists served as a precursor
to the rise of cognitive psychology in America (Benjamin, 2007).
Behaviorism emerged early in the 20th century and became a major force
in American psychology. Championed by psychologists such as John B. Watson
(18781958) and B. F. Skinner (19041990), behaviorism rejected any reference
to mind and viewed overt and observable behavior as the proper subject matter
of psychology. Through the scientific study of behavior, it was hoped that laws
of learning could be derived that would promote the prediction and control of
behavior. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (18491936) influenced early
128
behaviorism in America. His work on conditioned learning, popularly referred

to as classical conditioning, provided support for the notion that learning and
behavior were controlled by events in the environment and could be explained
with no reference to mind or consciousness (Fancher, 1987).
For decades, behaviorism dominated American psychology. By the 1960s,
psychologists began to recognize that behaviorism was unable to fully explain
human behavior because it neglected mental processes. The turn toward a
cognitive psychology was not new. In the 1930s, British psychologist Frederic
C. Bartlett (18861969) explored the idea of the constructive mind, recognizing
that people use their past experiences to construct frameworks in which to
understand new experiences. Some of the major pioneers in American cognitive
psychology include Jerome Bruner (1915), Roger Brown (19251997), and
George Miller (19202012). In the 1950s, Bruner conducted pioneering studies
on cognitive aspects of sensation and perception. Brown conducted original
research on language and memory, coined the term flashbulb memory, and
figured out how to study the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (Benjamin, 2007).
Millers research on working memory is legendary. His 1956 paper The Magic
Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing
Informationis one of the most highly cited papers in psychology. A popular
interpretation of Millers research was that the number of bits of information
an average human can hold in is 7 2. Around the same time, the study of
computer science was growing and was used as an analogy to explore and
understand how the mind works. The work of Miller and others in the 1950s
and 1960s has inspired tremendous interest in cognition and neuroscience,
both of which dominate much of contemporary American psychology.
129
Applied Psychology in America

In America, there has always been an interest in the application of psychology
to everyday life. Mental testing is an important example. Modern intelligence
tests were developed by the French psychologist Alfred Binet (18571911). His
goal was to develop a test that would identify schoolchildren in need of
educational support. His test, which included tasks of reasoning and problem
solving, was introduced in the United States by Henry Goddard (18661957)
and later standardized by Lewis Terman (18771956) at Stanford University.
The assessment and meaning of intelligence has fueled debates in American
psychology and society for nearly 100 years. Much of this is captured in the
nature-nurture debate that raises questions about the relative contributions of
heredity and environment in determining intelligence (Fancher, 1987).
Applied psychology was not limited to mental testing. What psychologists
were learning in their laboratories was applied in many settings including the
military, business, industry, and education. The early 20th century was witness
to rapid advances in applied psychology. Hugo Munsterberg (18631916) of
Harvard University made contributions to such areas as employee selection,
eyewitness testimony, and psychotherapy. Walter D. Scott (18691955) and
Harry Hollingworth (18801956) produced original work on the psychology of
advertising and marketing. Lillian Gilbreth (18781972) was a pioneer in
industrial psychology and engineering psychology. Working with her husband,
Frank, they promoted the use of time and motion studies to improve efficiency
in industry. Lillian also brought the efficiency movement to the home, designing
kitchens and appliances including the pop-up trashcan and refrigerator door
shelving. Their psychology of efficiency also found plenty of applications at
home with their 12 children. The experience served as the inspiration for the
movie Cheaper by the Dozen (Benjamin, 2007).
130
Clinical psychology was also an early application of experimental psychology

in America. Lightner Witmer (18671956) received his Ph.D. in experimental
psychology with Wilhelm Wundt and returned to the University of Pennsylvania,
where he opened a psychological clinic in 1896. Witmer believed that because
psychology dealt with the study of sensation and perception, it should be of
value in treating children with learning and behavioral problems. He is credited
as the founder of both clinical and school psychology (Benjamin & Baker, 2004).
Psychology as a Profession
As the roles of psychologists and the needs of the public continued to change,
it was necessary for psychology to begin to define itself as a profession. Without
standards for training and practice, anyone could use the title psychologist and
offer services to the public. As early as 1917, applied psychologists organized
to create standards for education, training, and licensure. By the 1930s, these
efforts led to the creation of the American Association for Applied Psychology
(AAAP). While the American Psychological Association (APA) represented the
interests of academic psychologists, AAAP served those in education, industry,
consulting, and clinical work.
The advent of WWII changed everything. The psychiatric casualties of war
were staggering, and there were simply not enough mental health professionals
to meet the need. Recognizing the shortage, the federal government urged the
AAAP and APA to work together to meet the mental health needs of the nation.
The result was the merging of the AAAP and the APA and a focus on the training
of professional psychologists. Through the provisions of National Mental Health
Act of 1946, funding was made available that allowed the APA, the Veterans
Administration, and the Public Health Service to work together to develop
training programs that would produce clinical psychologists. These efforts led
to the convening of the Boulder Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical
Psychology in 1949 in Boulder, Colorado. The meeting launched doctoral
131
training in psychology and gave us the scientist-practitioner model of training.

Similar meetings also helped launch doctoral training programs in counseling
and school psychology. Throughout the second half of the 20th century,
alternatives to Boulder have been debated. In 1973, the Vail Conference on
Professional Training in Psychology proposed the scholar-practitioner model
and the Psy.D. degree (Doctor of Psychology). It is a training model that
emphasizes clinical training and practice that has become more common
(Cautin & Baker, in press).
Psychology and Society

Given that psychology deals with the human condition, it is not surprising that
psychologists would involve themselves in social issues. For more than a
century, psychology and psychologists have been agents of social action and
change. Using the methods and tools of science, psychologists have challenged
assumptions, stereotypes, and stigma. Founded in 1936, the Society for the
Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) has supported research and action
on a wide range of social issues. Individually, there have been many
psychologists whose efforts have promoted social change. Helen Thompson
Woolley (18741947) and Leta S. Hollingworth (18861939) were pioneers in
research on the psychology of sex differences. Working in the early 20th century,
when womens rights were marginalized, Thompson examined the assumption
that women were overemotional compared to men and found that emotion
did not influence womens decisions any more than it did mens. Hollingworth
found that menstruation did not negatively impact womens cognitive or motor
abilities. Such work combatted harmful stereotypes and showed that
psychological research could contribute to social change (Scarborough &
Furumoto, 1987).
132
Among the first generation of African American psychologists, Mamie Phipps

Clark (19171983) and her husband Kenneth Clark (19142005) studied the
psychology of race and demonstrated the ways in which school segregation
negatively impacted the self-esteem of African American children. Their
research was influential in the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown
v. Board of Education, which ended school segregation (Guthrie, 2003). In
psychology, greater advocacy for issues impacting the African American
community were advanced by the creation of the Association of Black
Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968.
In 1957, psychologist Evelyn Hooker (19071996) published the paper The
Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual, reporting on her research that
showed no significant differences in psychological adjustment between
homosexual and heterosexual men. Her research helped to de-pathologize
homosexuality and contributed to the decision by the American Psychiatric
Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973 (Garnets & Kimmel, 2003).
Conclusion
Growth and expansion have been a constant in American psychology. In the
latter part of the 20th century, areas such as social, developmental, and
personality psychology made major contributions to our understanding of what
it means to be human. Today neuroscience is enjoying tremendous interest and
growth.
As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, it is a challenge to cover all
the history of psychology in such a short space. Errors of omission and
commission are likely in such a selective review. The history of psychology helps
to set a stage upon which the story of psychology can be told. This brief summary
provides some glimpse into the depth and rich content offered by the history
of psychology. The chapters in this e-book are all elaborations on the foundation
133
created by our shared past. It is hoped that you will be able to see these
connections and have a greater understanding and appreciation for both the
unity and diversity of the field of psychology.
Timeline
134
135
Outside Resources
Web: Advances in the History of Psychology
http://ahp.apps01.yorku.ca/
Web: Center for the History of Psychology
http://www.uakron.edu/chp
Web: Classics in the History of Psychology
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/
Web: Psychologys Feminist Voices
http://www.feministvoices.com/
Web: This Week in the History of Psychology
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/
1. Why was psychophysics important to the development of psychology as a
science?
2. How have psychologists participated in the advancement of social issues?
3. Name some ways in which psychology began to be applied to the general
public and everyday problems.
4. Describe functionalism and structuralism and their influences on
behaviorism and cognitive psychology.
Vocabulary
Behaviorism
The study of behavior.
Cognitive psychology
The study of mental processes.
Consciousness
Awareness of ourselves and our environment.
Empiricism
The belief that knowledge comes from experience.
Eugenics
The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits.
Flashbulb memory
A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.
Functionalism
A school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness.
Gestalt psychology
An attempt to study the unity of experience.
Individual differences
Ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition, and
development.
Introspection
A method of focusing on internal processes.
Neural impulse
An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate.
Practitioner-Scholar Model
A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical
practice.
Psychophysics
Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those
stimuli.
Realism
A point of view that emphasizes the importance of the senses in providing
knowledge of the external world.
Scientist-practitioner model
A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the
development of both research and clinical skills.
Structuralism
A school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of
conscious experience.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
The inability to pull a word from memory even though there is the sensation
that that word is available.
Reference List
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Blackwell Publishing.
Benjamin, L. T. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century.
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Benjamin, L. T., & Baker, D. B. (2004). From sance to science: A history of the
profession of psychology in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson
Learning.
Cautin, R., & Baker, D. B. (in press). A history of education and training in
professional psychology. In B. Johnson & N. Kaslow (Eds.), Oxford handbook
of education and training in professional psychology. New York, NY: Oxford
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Evans, R. B. (1972). E. B. Titchener and his lost system. Journal of the History of
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Fancher, R. E. (1987). The intelligence men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New
York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
Fancher, R. E., & Rutherford, A. (2011). Pioneers of psychology: A history (4th
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Fuchs, A. H. (2000). Contributions of American mental philosophers to
psychology in the United States. History of Psychology, 3, 319.
Garnets, L., & Kimmel, D. C. (2003). What a light it shed: The life of Evelyn Hooker.
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lesbian, and bisexual experiences (2nd ed., pp. 3149). New York, NY:
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Goodwin, C. J. (2011). A history of modern psychology (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.
Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titcheners experimentalists. Journal of
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Guthrie, R. V. (2003). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd
ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Leahey, T. H. (2012). A history of psychology: From antiquity to modernity (7th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Scarborough, E. A. & Furumoto, L. (1987). The untold lives: The first generation
of American women psychologists. New York, NY: Columbia University
Press.
Shultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2007). A history of modern psychology (9th ed.).
Stanford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Sokal, M. M. (1980). Science and James McKeen Cattell. Science, 209, 4352.
Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Wertheimer, M. (1938). Gestalt theory. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt
psychology (1-11). New York, NY: Harcourt.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. History of Psychology by David B. Baker and
Heather Sperry is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Topic 2
Biological Basis of Behavior
Neurons
Sharon Furtak
California State University, Sacramento
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter on the biological basis of behavior provides an overview of the
basic structure of neurons and their means of communication. Neurons, cells
in the central nervous system, receive information from our sensory systems
(vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, and somatosensation) about the world
around us; in turn, they plan and execute appropriate behavioral responses,
including attending to a stimulus, learning new information, speaking, eating,
mating, and evaluating potential threats. The goal of this chapter is to become
familiar with the anatomical structure of neurons and to understand how
neurons communicate by electrochemical signals to process sensory
information and produce complex behaviors through networks of neurons.
Having a basic knowledge of the fundamental structure and function of neurons
is a necessary foundation as you move forward in the field of psychology.
Learning Objectives
Differentiate the functional roles between the two main cell classes in the
brain, neurons and glia.
Describe how the forces of diffusion and electrostatic pressure work

collectively to facilitate electrochemical communication.
Define resting membrane potential, excitatory postsynaptic potentials,

inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, and action potentials.
Explain features of axonal and synaptic communication in neurons.
Introduction
Imagine trying to string words together into a meaningful sentence without
knowing the meaning of each word or its function (i.e., Is it a verb, a noun, or
an adjective?). In a similar fashion, to appreciate how groups of cells work
together in a meaningful way in the brain as a whole, we must first understand
how individual cells in the brain function. Much like words, brain cells, called
neurons, have an underlying structure that provides the foundation for their
functional purpose. Have you ever seen a neuron? Did you know that the basic
structure of a neuron is similar whether it is from the brain of a rat or a human?
How do the billions of neurons in our brain allow us to do all the fun things we
enjoy, such as texting a friend, cheering on our favorite sports team, or laughing?
nobaproject.com - Neurons
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Figure 1. Three drawings by Santiago Ramn y Cajal, taken from "Comparative study of the
sensory areas of the human cortex", pages 314, 361, and 363. Left: Nissl-stained visual cortex
of a human adult. Middle: Nissl-stained motor cortex of a human adult. Right: Golgi-stained
cortex of a 1 1/2 month old infant. From Wikipedia public domain.
Our journey in answering these questions begins more than 100 years ago
with a scientist named Santiago Ramn y Cajal. Ramn y Cajal (1911) boldly
concluded that discrete individual neurons are the structural and functional
units of the nervous system. He based his conclusion on the numerous drawings
he made of Golgi-stained tissue, a stain named after the scientist who
discovered it, Camillo Golgi. Scientists use several types of stains to visualize
cells. Each stain works in a unique way, which causes them to look differently
when viewed under a microscope. For example, a very common Nissl stain
labels only the main part of the cell (i.e., the cell body; see left and middle panels
of Figure 1). In contrast, a Golgi stain fills the cell body and all the processes
that extend outward from it (see right panel of Figure 1). A more notable
149
characteristic of a Golgi stain is that it only stains approximately 12% of neurons

(Pasternak & Woolsey, 1975; Smit & Colon, 1969), permitting the observer to
distinguish one cell from another. These qualities allowed Cajal to examine the
full anatomical structure of individual neurons for the first time. This
significantly enhanced our appreciation of the intricate networks their
processes form. Based on his observation of Golgi-stained tissue, Cajal
suggested neurons were distinguishable processing units rather than
continuous structures. This was in opposition to the dominant theory at the
time proposed by Joseph von Gerlach, which stated that the nervous system
was composed of a continuous network of nerves (for review see, Lopez-Munoz,
Boya, & Alamo, 2006). Camillo Golgi himself had been an avid supporter of
Gerlachs theory. Despite their scientific disagreement, Cajal and Camillo Golgi
shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1906 for their combined contribution to
the advancement of science and our understanding of the structure of the
nervous system. This seminal work paved the pathway to our current
understanding of the basic structure of the nervous system described in this
chapter and Chapter 8 (for review see: De Carlos & Borrell, 2007; Grant, 2007).
Before moving forward, there will be an introduction to some basic
terminology regarding the anatomy of neurons in the section called The
Structure of the Neuron, below. Once we have reviewed this fundamental
framework, the remainder of the chapter will focus on the electrochemical
signals through which neurons communicate. While the electrochemical
process might sound intimidating, it will be broken down into digestible
sections. The first subsection, Resting Membrane Potential, describes what
occurs in a neuron at rest, when it is theoretically not receiving or sending
signals. Building upon this knowledge, we will examine the electrical
conductance that occurs within a single neuron when it receives signals. Finally,
the chapter will conclude with a description of the electrical conductance, which
results in communication between neurons through a release of chemicals. At
the end of the chapter, you should have a broad concept of how each cell and
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large groups of cells send and receive information by electrical and chemical
signals.
A note of encouragement: This chapter introduces a vast amount of technical
terminology that at times may feel overwhelming. Do not get discouraged or
bogged down in the details. Utilize the glossary at the end of the chapter as a
quick reference guide; tab the glossary page so that you can easily refer to it
while reading the chapter. The glossary contains all terms in bold typing. Terms
in italics are additional significant terms that may appear in other chapters but
are not contained within the glossary. On your first read of this chapter, I suggest
focusing on the broader concepts and functional aspects of the terms instead
of trying to commit all the terminology to memory. That is right, I said read first!
I highly suggest reading this chapter at least twice, once prior to and again
following the course lecture on this material. Repetition is the best way to gain
clarity and commit to memory the challenging concepts and detailed vocabulary
presented here.
The Structure of the Neuron

Basic Nomenclature
There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the human brain (Williams &
Herrup, 1988). Each neuron has three main components: dendrites, the soma,
and the axon (see Figure 2). Dendrites are processes that extend outward from
the soma, or cell body, of a neuron and typically branch several times. Dendrites
receive information from thousands of other neurons and are the main source
of input of the neuron. The nucleus, which is located within the soma, contains
genetic information, directs protein synthesis, and supplies the energy and the
resources the neuron needs to function. The main source of output of the
neuron is the axon. The axon is a process that extends far away from the soma
and carries an important signal called an action potential to another neuron.
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The place at which the axon of one neuron comes in close contact to the dendrite
of another neuron is a synapse (see Figures 23). Typically, the axon of a neuron
is covered with an insulating substance called a myelin sheath that allows the
signal and communication of one neuron to travel rapidly to another neuron.
Figure 2. Basic structure of a neuron.
The axon splits many times, so that it can communicate, or synapse, with
several other neurons (see Figure 2). At the end of the axon is a terminal button,
which forms synapses with spines, or protrusions, on the dendrites of neurons.
Synapsesform between the presynaptic terminal button (neuron sending the
signal) and the postsynaptic membrane (neuron receiving the signal; see Figure
3). Here we will focus specifically on synapses between the terminal button of
an axon and a dendritic spine; however, synapses can also form between the
terminal button of an axon and the soma or the axon of another neuron.
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A very small space called a synaptic gap or a synaptic cleft, approximately

5 nm (nanometers), exists between the presynaptic terminal button and the
postsynaptic dendritic spine. To give you a better idea of the size, a dime is 1.35
mm (millimeter) thick. There are 1,350,000 nm in the thickness of a dime. In the
presynaptic terminal button, there are synaptic vesicles that package together
groups of chemicals called neurotransmitters (see Figure 3). Neurotransmitters
are released from the presynaptic terminal button, travel across the synaptic
gap, and activate ion channels on the postsynaptic spine by binding to receptor
sites. We will discuss the role of receptors in more detail later in the chapter.
Types of Cells in the Brain

Not all neurons are created equal! There are neurons that help us receive
information about the world around us, sensoryneurons. There are motor
neurons that allow us to initiate movement and behavior, ultimately allowing
us to interact with the world around us. Finally, there are interneurons, which
process the sensory input from our environment into meaningful
representations, plan the appropriate behavioral response, and connect to the
motor neurons to execute these behavioral plans. Among these sensory, motor,
and interneurons exist three main categories of neurons based on their number
of dendrites. Unipolar neurons have only one dendrite. Bipolar neurons have
two dendrites. Multipolar neurons have three or more neurons. One of the
most prominent neurons is a pyramidal neuron, which falls under the multipolar
category. It gets its name from the triangular or pyramidal shape of its soma
(for examples see, Furtak, Moyer, & Brown, 2007).
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Figure 3. Characteristics of a synapse.
In addition to neurons, there is a second type of cell in the brain called glia
cells. Glia cells have several functions, just a few of which we will discuss here.
One type of glia cell, called oligodendroglia, forms the myelin sheaths
mentioned above (Simons & Trotter, 2007; see Fig. 2). Oligodendroglia wrap
their dendritic processes around the axons of neurons many times to form the
myelin sheath. One cell will form the myelin sheath on several axons. Other
types of glia cells, such as microglia and astrocytes, digest debris of dead
neurons, carry nutritional support from blood vessels to the neurons, and help
to regulate the ionic composition of the extracellular fluid. While glial cells play
a vital role in neuronal support, they do not participate in the communication
between cells in the same fashion as neurons do.
Communication Within and Between Neurons

Thus far, we have described the main characteristics of neurons, including how
their processes come in close contact with one another to form synapses. In
this section, we consider the conduction of communication within a neuron
and how this signal is transmitted to the next neuron. There are two stages of
this electrochemical action in neurons. The first stage is the electrical conduction
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of dendritic input to the initiation of an action potential within a neuron. The

second stage is a chemical transmission across the synaptic gap between the
presynaptic neuron and the postsynaptic neuron of the synapse. To understand
these processes, we first need to consider what occurs within a neuron when
it is at a steady state, called resting membrane potential.
Resting Membrane Potential

The intracellular (inside the cell) fluid and extracellular (outside the cell) fluid of
neurons is composed of a combination of ions (electrically charged molecules;
see Figure 4). Cations are positively charged ions, and anions are negatively
charged ions. The composition of intracellular and extracellular fluid is similar
to salt water, containing sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), chloride (Cl-), and anions
(A-).
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Figure 4. Representation of ion concentrations inside (intracellular) and outside (extracellular)

a neuron in the unmylenated segment of the axon.
The cell membrane, which is composed of a lipid bilayer of fat molecules,

separates the cell from the surrounding extracellular fluid. There are proteins
that span the membrane, forming ion channels that allow particular ions to
pass between the intracellular and extracellular fluid (see Figure 4). These ions
are in different concentrations inside the cell relative to outside the cell, and
the ions have different electrical charges. Due to this difference in concentration
and charge, two forces act to maintain a steady state when the cell is at rest:
diffusion and electrostatic pressure. Diffusion is the force on molecules to move
156
from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. Electrostatic

pressure is the force on two ions with similar charge to repel each other and
the force of two ions with opposite charge to attract to one another. Remember
the saying, opposites attract?
Regardless of the ion, there exists a membrane potential at which the force
of diffusion is equal and opposite of the force of electrostatic pressure. This
voltage, called the equilibrium potential, is the voltage at which no ions flow.
Since there are several ions that can permeate the cells membrane, the baseline
electrical charge inside the cell compared with outside the cell, referred to as
resting membrane potential, is based on the collective drive of force on several
ions. Relative to the extracellular fluid, the membrane potential of a neuron at
rest is negatively charged at approximately -70 mV (see Figure 5). These are very
small voltages compared with the voltages of batteries and electrical outlets,
which we encounter daily, that range from 1.5 to 240 V.
Let us see how these two forces, diffusion and electrostatic pressure, act on
the four groups of ions mentioned above.
1. Anions (A-):Anions are highly concentrated inside the cell and contribute to
the negative charge of the resting membrane potential. Diffusion and
electrostatic pressure are not forces that determine A- concentration
because A- is impermeable to the cell membrane. There are no ion channels
that allow for A- to move between the intracellular and extracellular fluid.
2. Potassium (K+): The cell membrane is very permeable to potassium at rest,
but potassium remains in high concentrations inside the cell. Diffusion
pushes K+ outside the cell because it is in high concentration inside the cell.
However, electrostatic pressure pushes K+ inside the cell because the
positive charge of K+ is attracted to the negative charge inside the cell. In
combination, these forces oppose one another with respect to K+.
157
3. Chloride (Cl-): The cell membrane is also very permeable to chloride at rest,
but chloride remains in high concentration outside the cell. Diffusion pushes
Cl- inside the cell because it is in high concentration outside the cell.
However, electrostatic pressure pushes Cl- outside the cell because the
negative charge of Cl- is attracted to the positive charge outside the cell.
Similar to K+, these forces oppose one another with respect to Cl-.
4. Sodium (Na+): The cell membrane is not very permeable to sodium at rest.
Diffusion pushes Na+ inside the cell because it is in high concentration
outside the cell. Electrostatic pressure also pushes Na+ inside the cell
because the positive charge of Na+ is attracted to the negative charge inside
the cell. Both of these forces push Na+ inside the cell; however, Na+ cannot
permeate the cell membrane and remains in high concentration outside
the cell. The small amounts of Na+ inside the cell are removed by a sodiumpotassium pump, which uses the neurons energy (adenosine triphosphate,
ATP) to pump 3 Na+ ions out of the cell in exchange for bringing 2 K+ ions
inside the cell.
Action Potential
Now that we have considered what occurs in a neuron at rest, let us consider
what changes occur to the resting membrane potential when a neuron receives
input, or information, from the presynaptic terminal button of another neuron.
Our understanding of the electrical signals or potentials that occurs within a
neuron results from the seminal work of Hodgkin and Huxleythat began in the
1930s at a well-known marine biology lab in Woodshole, MA. Their work, for
which they won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1963, has resulted in the general
model of electrochemical transduction that is described here (Hodgkin &
Huxley, 1952). Hodgkin and Huxley studied a very large axon in the squid, a
158
common species for that region of the United States. The giant axon of the
squid is roughly 100 times larger than that of axons in the mammalian brain,
making it much easier to see. Activation of the giant axon is responsible for a
withdrawal response the squid uses when trying to escape from a predator,
such as large fish, birds, sharks, and even humans. When was the last time you
had calamari? The large axon size is no mistake in natures design; it allows for
very rapid transmission of an electrical signal, enabling a swift escape motion
in the squid from its predators.
While studying this species, Hodgkin and Huxley noticed that if they applied
an electrical stimulus to the axon, a large, transient electrical current conducted
down the axon. This transient electrical current is known as an action potential
(see Figure 5). An action potential is an all-or-nothing response that occurs when
there is a change in the charge or potential of the cell from its resting membrane
potential (-70 mV) in a more positive direction, which is a depolarization (see
Figure 5). What is meant by an all-or-nothing response? I find that this concept
is best compared to the binary code used in computers, where there are only
two possibilities, 0 or 1. There is no halfway or in-between these possible values;
for example, 0.5 does not exist in binary code. There are only two possibilities,
either the value of 0 or the value of 1. The action potential is the same in this
respect. There is no halfway; it occurs, or it does not occur. There is a specific
membrane potential that the neuron must reach to initiate an action potential.
This membrane potential, called the threshold of excitation, is typically around
-50 mV. If the threshold of excitation is reached, then an action potential is
triggered.
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How is an action potential initiated? At any one time, each neuron is receiving
hundreds of inputs from the cells that synapse with it. These inputs can cause
several types of fluctuations in the neurons membrane potentials (see Figure 5):
Figure 5. Changes in membrane potentials of neurons.
1. excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs): a depolarizing current that

causes the membrane potential to become more positive and closer to the
threshold of excitation; or
2. inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs): a hyperpolarizing current that
causes the membrane potential to become more negative and further away
from the threshold of excitation.
These postsynaptic potentials, EPSPs and IPSPs, summate or add together

in time and space. The IPSPs make the membrane potential more negative, but
how much so depends on the strength of the IPSPs. The EPSPs make the
membrane potential more positive; again, how much more positive depends
on the strength of the EPSPs. If you have two small EPSPs at the same time and
160
the same synapse then the result will be a large EPSP. If you have a small EPSP
and a small IPSP at the same time and the same synapse then they will cancel
each other out. Unlike the action potential, which is an all-or-nothing response,
IPSPs and EPSPs are smaller and graded potentials, varying in strength. The
change in voltage during an action potential is approximately 100 mV. In
comparison, EPSPs and IPSPs are changes in voltage between 0.1 to 40 mV.
They can be different strengths, or gradients, and they are measured by how
far the membrane potentials diverge from the resting membrane potential.
I know the concept of summation can be confusing. As a child, I use to play
a game in elementary school with a very large parachute where you would try
to knock balls out of the center of the parachute. This game illustrates the
properties of summation rather well. In this game, a group of children next to
one another would work in unison to produce waves in the parachute in order
to cause a wave large enough to knock the ball out of the parachute. The children
would initiate the waves at the same time and in the same direction. The additive
result was a larger wave in the parachute, and the balls would bounce out of
the parachute. However, if the waves they initiated occurred in the opposite
direction or with the wrong timing, the waves would cancel each other out, and
the balls would remain in the center of the parachute. EPSPs or IPSPs in a neuron
work in the same fashion to the properties of the waves in the parachute; they
either add or cancel each other out. If you have two EPSPs, then they sum
together and become a larger depolarization. Similarly, if two IPSPs come into
the cell at the same time, they will sum and become a larger hyperpolarization
in membrane potential. However, if two inputs were opposing one another,
moving the potential in opposite directions, such as an EPSP and an IPSP, their
sum would cancel each other out.
At any moment in time, each cell is receiving mixed messages, both EPSPs
and IPSPs. If the summation of EPSPs is strong enough to depolarize the
membrane potential to reach the threshold of excitation, then it initiates an
action potential. The action potential then travels down the axon, away from
161
the soma, until it reaches the ends of the axon (the terminal button). In the
terminal button, the action potential triggers the release of neurotransmitters
from the presynaptic terminal button into the synaptic gap. These
neurotransmitters, in turn, cause EPSPs and IPSPs in the postsynaptic dendritic
spines of the next cell (see Figures 4 & 6). The neurotransmitter released from
the presynaptic terminal button binds with ionotropic receptors in a lock-andkey fashion on the post-synaptic dendritic spine. Ionotropic receptors are
receptors on ion channels that open, allowing some ions to enter or exit the
cell, depending upon the presence of a particular neurotransmitter. The type
of neurotransmitter and the permeability of the ion channel it activates will
determine if an EPSP or IPSP occurs in the dendrite of the post-synaptic cell.
These EPSPs and IPSPs summate in the same fashion described above and the
entire process occurs again in another cell.
The Change in Membrane Potential During an Action

Potential
We discussed previously which ions are involved in maintaining the resting
membrane potential. Not surprisingly, some of these same ions are involved
in the action potential. When the cell becomes depolarized (more positively
charged) and reaches the threshold of excitation, this causes a voltagedependent Na+ channel to open. A voltage-dependent ion channel is a channel
that opens, allowing some ions to enter or exit the cell, depending upon when
the cell reaches a particular membrane potential. When the cell is at resting
membrane potential, these voltage-dependent Na+ channels are closed. As we
learned earlier, both diffusion and electrostatic pressure are pushing Na+ inside
the cells. However, Na+ cannot permeate the membrane when the cell is at
rest. Now that these channels are open, Na+ rushes inside the cell, causing the
cell to become very positively charged relative to the outside of the cell. This is
responsible for the rising or depolarizing phase of the action potential (see
162
Figure 5). The inside of the cell becomes very positively charged, +40mV. At this
point, the Na+ channels close and become refractory. This means the Na+
channels cannot reopen again until after the cell returns to the resting
membrane potential. Thus, a new action potential cannot occur during the
refractory period. The refractory period also ensures the action potential can
only move in one direction down the axon, away from the soma. As the cell
becomes more depolarized, a second type of voltage-dependent channel
opens; this channel is permeable to K+. With the cell very positive relative to
the outside of the cell (depolarized) and the high concentration of K+ within the
cell, both the force of diffusion and the force of electrostatic pressure drive K+
outside of the cell. The movement of K+ out of the cell causes the cell potential
to return back to the resting membrane potential, the falling or hyperpolarizing
phase of the action potential (see Figure 5). A short hyperpolarization occurs
partially due to the gradual closing of the K+ channels. With the Na+ closed,
electrostatic pressure continues to push K+ out of the cell. In addition, the
sodium-potassium pump is pushing Na+ out of the cell. The cell returns to the
resting membrane potential, and the excess extracellular K+ diffuses away. This
exchange of Na+ and K+ ions happens very rapidly, in less than 1 msec. The
action potential occurs in a wave-like motion down the axon until it reaches the
terminal button. Only the ion channels in very close proximity to the action
potential are affected.
163
Figure 6. Summary of the electrochemical communication within and between neurons.
Earlier you learned that axons are covered in myelin. Let us consider how
myelin speeds up the process of the action potential. There are gaps in the
myelin sheaths called nodes of Ranvier. The myelin insulates the axon and does
not allow any fluid to exist between the myelin and cell membrane. Under the
myelin, when the Na+ and K+ channels open, no ions flow between the
intracellular and extracellular fluid. This saves the cell from having to expend
the energy necessary to rectify or regain the resting membrane potential.
(Remember, the pumps need ATP to run.) Under the myelin, the action potential
degrades some, but is still large enough in potential to trigger a new action
potential at the next node of Ranvier. Thus, the action potential actively jumps
from node to node; this process is known as saltatory conduction.
In the presynaptic terminal button, the action potential triggers the release
of neurotransmitters (see Figure 3). Neurotransmitters cross the synaptic gap
and open subtypes of receptors in a lock-and-key fashion (see Figure 3).
Depending on the type of neurotransmitter, an EPSP or IPSP occurs in the
dendrite of the post-synaptic cell. Neurotransmitters that open Na+ or calcium
(Ca+) channels cause an EPSP; an example is the NMDA receptors, which are
164
activated by glutamate (the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain). In

contrast, neurotransmitters that open Cl- or K+ channels cause an IPSP; an
example is gamma-aminobutryric acid (GABA) receptors, which are activated
by GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Once the EPSPs
and IPSPs occur in the postsynaptic site, the process of communication within
and between neurons cycles on (see Figure 6). A neurotransmitter that does
not bind to receptors is broken down and inactivated by enzymes or glial cells,
or it is taken back into the presynaptic terminal button in a process called
reuptake,
which
will
be
discussed
further
in
the
chapter
on
psychopharmacology.
165
Outside Resources
Video: An animation of an action potential
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifD1YG07fB8
Video: An animation of neurotransmitter actions at the synapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90cj4NX87Yk
Video: Another animation of an action potential
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHBnExxub8&list=PL968773A54EF13D21
Video: Another animation of neurotransmitter actions at the synapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT3VKAr4roo&list=PL968773A54EF13D21
Video: For perspective on techniques in neuroscience to look inside the brain
http://www.ted.com/talks/carl_schoonover_how_to_look_inside_the_brain.html
Web: For more information on the Nobel Prize shared by Ramn y Cajal and
Golgi
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1906/
1. What structures of a neuron are the main input and output of that neuron?
2. What does the statement mean that communication within and between
cells is an electrochemical process?
3. How does myelin increase speed and efficiency of the action potential?
4. How does diffusion and electrostatic pressure contribute to the resting
membrane potential and the action potential?
5. Describe the cycle of communication within and between neurons.
Vocabulary
Action potential
A transient all-or-nothing electrical current that is conducted down the axon
when the membrane potential reaches the threshold of excitation.
Axon
Part of the neuron that extends off the soma, splitting several times to connect
with other neurons; main output of the neuron.
Cell membrane
A bi-lipid layer of molecules that separates the cell from the surrounding
extracellular fluid.
Dendrite
Part of a neuron that extends away from the cell body and is the main input to
the neuron.
Diffusion
The force on molecules to move from areas of high concentration to areas of
low concentration.
Electrostatic pressure
The force on two ions with similar charge to repel each other; the force of two
ions with opposite charge to attract to one another.
Excitatory postsynaptic potentials
A depolarizing postsynaptic current that causes the membrane potential to
become more positive and move towards the threshold of excitation.
Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials

A hyperpolarizing postsynaptic current that causes the membrane potential to
become more negative and move away from the threshold of excitation.
Ion channels
Proteins that span the cell membrane, forming channels that specific ions can
flow through between the intracellular and extracellular space.
Ionotropic receptor
Ion channel that opens to allow ions to permeate the cell membrane under
specific conditions, such as the presence of a neurotransmitter or a specific
membrane potential.
Myelin sheath
Substance around the axon of a neuron that serves as insulation to allow the
action potential to conduct rapidly toward the terminal buttons.
Neurotransmitters
Chemical substance released by the presynaptic terminal button that acts on
the postsynaptic cell.
Nucleus
Collection of nerve cells found in the brain which typically serve a specific
function.
Resting membrane potential
The voltage inside the cell relative to the voltage outside the cell while the cell
is a rest (approximately -70 mV).
Sodium-potassium pump
An ion channel that uses the neurons energy (adenosine triphosphate, ATP) to
pump three Na+ ions outside the cell in exchange for bringing two K+ ions inside
the cell.
Soma
Cell body of a neuron that contains the nucleus and genetic information, and
directs protein synthesis.
Spines
Protrusions on the dendrite of a neuron that form synapses with terminal
buttons of the presynaptic axon.
Synapse
Junction between the presynaptic terminal button of one neuron and the
dendrite, axon, or soma of another postsynaptic neuron.
Synaptic gap
Also known as the synaptic cleft; the small space between the presynaptic
terminal button and the postsynaptic dendritic spine, axon, or soma.
Synaptic vesicles
Groups of neurotransmitters packaged together and located within the
terminal button.
Terminal button
The part of the end of the axon that form synapses with postsynaptic dendrite,
axon, or soma.
Threshold of excitation
Specific membrane potential that the neuron must reach to initiate an action
potential.
Reference List
De Carlos, J. A., & Borrell, J. (2007). A historical reflection of the contributions of
Cajal and Golgi to the foundations of neuroscience. Brain Res Rev, 55(1),
8-16. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresrev.2007.03.010
Furtak, S. C., Moyer, J. R., Jr., & Brown, T. H. (2007). Morphology and ontogeny
of rat perirhinal cortical neurons. J Comp Neurol, 505(5), 493-510. doi:
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Grant, G. (2007). How the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Neurons by Sharon Furtak is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view
a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_US.
The Nervous System

Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The mammalian nervous system is a complex biological organ, which enables
many animals including humans to function in a coordinated fashion. The
original design of this system is preserved across many animals through
evolution; thus, adaptive physiological and behavioral functions are similar
across many animal species. Comparative study of physiological functioning in
the nervous systems of different animals lend insights to their behavior and
their mental processing and make it easier for us to understand the human
brain and behavior. In addition, studying the development of the nervous
system in a growing human provides a wealth of information about the change
in its form and behaviors that result from this change. The nervous system is
divided into central and peripheral nervous systems, and the two heavily
interact with one another. The peripheral nervous system controls volitional
(somatic nervous system) and nonvolitional (autonomic nervous system)
behaviors using cranial and spinal nerves. The central nervous system is divided
into forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain, and each division performs a variety
of tasks; for example, the cerebral cortex in the forebrain houses sensory,
motor, and associative areas that gather sensory information, process
information for perception and memory, and produce responses based on
incoming and inherent information. To study the nervous system, a number of
methods have evolved over time; these methods include examining brain
lesions, microscopy, electrophysiology, electroencephalography, and many
scanning technologies.
Learning Objectives
Describe the reasons for studying different nervous systems in animals

other than human beings. Explain what lessons we learn from the
evolutionary history of this organ.
Describe and understand the development of the nervous system.
Learn and understand the two important parts of the nervous system.
Explain the two systems in the peripheral nervous system and what you
know about the different regions and areas of the central nervous system.
Learn and describe different techniques of studying the nervous system.

Understand which of these techniques are important for cognitive
neuroscientists.
Evolution of the Nervous System

Many scientists and thinkers (Cajal, 1937; Crick & Koch, 1990; Edelman, 2004)
believe that the human nervous system is the most complex machine known
to man. Its complexity points to one undeniable factthat it has evolved slowly
over time from simpler forms. Evolution of the nervous system is intriguing not
because we can marvel at this complicated biological structure, but it is
fascinating because it inherits a lineage of a long history of many less complex
nervous systems (Figure 1), and it documents a record of adaptive behaviors
observed in life forms other than humans. Thus, evolutionary study of the
nervous system is important, and it is the first step in understanding its design,
its workings, and its functional interface with the environment.
Figure 1
The brains of some animals, like apes, monkeys, and rodents, are structurally
similar to humans (Figure 1), while others are not (e.g., invertebrates, singlecelled organisms). Does anatomical similarity of these brains suggest that
behaviors that emerge in these species are also similar? Indeed, many animals
display behaviors that are similar to humans, e.g., apes use nonverbal
communication signals with their hands and arms that resemble nonverbal
forms of communication in humans (Gardner & Gardner, 1969; Goodall, 1986;
Knapp & Hall, 2009). If we study very simple behaviors, like physiological
responses made by individual neurons, then brain-based behaviors of
invertebrates (Kandel & Schwartz, 1982) look very similar to humans, suggesting
that from time immemorial such basic behaviors have been conserved in the
nobaproject.com - The Nervous System
178
brains of many simple animal forms and in fact are the foundation of more
complex behaviors in animals that evolved later (Bullock, 1984).
Even at the micro-anatomical level, we note that individual neurons differ
in complexity across animal species. Human neurons exhibit more intricate
complexity than other animals; for example, neuronal processes (dendrites) in
humans have many more branch points, branches, and spines.
Complexity in the structure of the nervous system, both at the macro- and
micro-levels, give rise to complex behaviors. We can observe similar movements
of the limbs, as in nonverbal communication, in apes and humans, but the
variety and intricacy of nonverbal behaviors using hands in humans surpasses
apes. Deaf and dumb individuals who use American Sign Language (ASL)
express themselves in English nonverbally; they use this language with such
fine gradation that many accents of ASL exist (Walker, 1987). Complexity of
behavior with increasing complexity of the nervous system, especially the
cerebral cortex, can be observed in the genus Homo (Figure 2). If we compare
sophistication of material culture in Homo habilis (2 million years ago; brain
volume ~650 cm3) and Homo sapiens (300,000 years to now; brain volume
~1400 cm3), the evidence shows that Homo habilis used crude stone tools
compared with modern tools used by Homo sapiens to erect cities, develop
written languages, embark on space travel, and study her own self. All of this
is due to increasing complexity of the nervous system.
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Figure 2
What has led to the complexity of the brain and nervous system through
evolution, to its behavioral and cognitive refinement? Darwin (1859, 1871)
proposed two forces of natural and sexual selection as work engines behind
this change. He prophesied, psychology will be based on a new foundation,
that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by
gradation that is, psychology will be based on evolution (Rosenzweig,
Breedlove, & Leiman, 2002).
Development of the Nervous System

Where the study of change in the nervous system over eons is immensely
captivating, studying the change in a single brain during individual development
is no less engaging. In many ways the ontogeny (development) of the nervous
system in an individual mimics the evolutionary advancement of this structure
observed across many animal species. During development, the nervous tissue
emerges from the ectoderm (one of the three layers of the mammalian embryo)
through the process of neural induction. This process causes the formation of
180
the neural tube, which extends in a rostrocaudal (head-to-tail) plane. The tube,
which is hollow, seams itself in the rostrocaudal direction. In some disease
conditions, the neural tube does not close caudally and results in an abnormality
called spina bifida. In this pathological condition, the lumbar and sacral
segments of the spinal cord are disrupted.
As gestation progresses, the neural tube balloons up (cephalization) at the
rostral end, and forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain, and the spinal cord can be
visually delineated (day 40). About 50 days into gestation, six cephalic areas can
be anatomically discerned (also see below for a more detailed description of
these areas).
The progenitor cells (neuroblasts) that form the lining (neuroepithelium)
of the neural tube generate all the neurons and glial cells of the central nervous
system. During early stages of this development, neuroblasts rapidly divide and
specialize into many varieties of neurons and glial cells, but this proliferation
of cells is not uniform along the neural tubethat is why we see the forebrain
and hindbrain expand into larger cephalic tissues than the midbrain. The
neuroepithelium also generates a group of specialized cells that migrate outside
the neural tube to form the neural crest. This structure gives rise to sensory
and autonomic neurons in the peripheral nervous system.
The Structure of the Nervous System

The mammalian nervous system is divided into central and peripheral nervous
systems.
181
The Peripheral Nervous System
Figure 3
The peripheral nervous system is divided into somatic and autonomic nervous
systems (Figure 3). Where the somatic nervous system consists of cranial
nerves (12 pairs) and spinal nerves (31 pairs) and is under the volitional control
of the individual in maneuvering bodily muscles, the autonomic nervous system
also running through these nerves lets the individual have little control over
muscles and glands. Main divisions of the autonomic nervous system that
control visceral structures are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous
systems.
At an appropriate cue (say a fear-inducing object like a snake), the
sympathetic division generally energizes many muscles (e.g., heart) and glands
(e.g., adrenals), causing activity and release of hormones that lead the individual
to negotiate the fear-causing snake with fight-or-flight responses. Whether the
individual decides to fight the snake or run away from it, either action requires
energy; in short, the sympathetic nervous system says go, go, go. The
parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, curtails undue energy
mobilization into muscles and glands and modulates the response by saying
182
stop, stop, stop. This pushpull tandem system regulates fight-or-flight

responses in all of us.
The Central Nervous System
Figure 4
The central nervous system is divided into six important parts (Figure 4, white
labels), including the spinal cord, each specialized to perform a set of specific
functions. Telencephalon or cerebrum is a newer development in the evolution
of the mammalian nervous system. In humans, it is about the size of a large
napkin and when crumpled into the skull, it forms furrows called sulci (singular
form, sulcus). The bulges between sulci are called gyri (singular form, gyrus).
The cortex is divided into two hemispheres, and each hemisphere is further
divided into four lobes (Figure 5a), which have specific functions. The division
of these lobes is based on two delineating sulci: the central sulcus divides the
hemisphere into frontal and parietal-occipital lobes and the lateral sulcus
marks the temporal lobe, which lies below.
183
Figure 5a
Just in front of the central sulcus lies an area called the motor strip
(precentral gyrus), which connects to the muscles of the body, and on volitional
command moves them. From mastication to movements in the genitalia, the
body map is represented on this strip (Figure 5b).
Some body parts, like fingers, thumbs, and lips, occupy a greater
representation on the strip than, say, the trunk. This disproportionate
representation of the body on the motor strip is called the magnification factor
(Rolls & Cowey, 1970) and is seen in other motor and sensory areas. At the
lower end of the central sulcus, close to the lateral sulcus, lies the Brocas area
(Figure 6b) in the left frontal lobe, which is involved with language production.
Damage to this part of the brain led Pierre Paul Broca, a French neuroscientist
in 1861, to document many different forms of aphasias, in which his patients
would lose the ability to speak or would retain partial speech impoverished in
syntax and grammar (AAAS, 1880). It is no wonder that others have found
subvocal rehearsal and central executive processes of working memory in this
frontal lobe (Smith & Jonides, 1997, 1999).
184
Figure 5b
Just behind the central gyrus, in the parietal lobe, lies the primary
somatosensory strip (Figure 6a) on the postcentral gyrus, which represents the
whole body receiving inputs from the skin and muscles. The somatosensory
strip parallels, abuts, and connects heavily to the motor strip and resembles it
in terms of areas devoted to bodily representation. All spinal and some cranial
nerves (e.g., the facial nerve) send sensory signals from skin (e.g., touch) and
muscles to the somatosensory strip. Close to the lower (ventral) end of this
strip, curved inside the parietal lobe, is the taste area (secondary somatosensory
cortex), which is involved with taste experiences that originate from the tongue,
pharynx, epiglottis, and so forth.
185
Figure 6a
Just below the parietal lobe, and under the caudal end of the lateral fissure,
in the temporal lobe, lies the Wernickes area (Demonet et al., 1992). This area
is involved with language comprehension and is connected to the Brocas area
through the arcuate fasciculus, nerve fibers that connect these two regions.
Damage to the Wernickes area (Figure 6b) results in many kinds of agnosias;
agnosia is defined as an inability to know or understand language and speechrelated behaviors. So an individual may show word deafness, which is an
inability to recognize spoken language, or word blindness, which is an inability
to recognize written or printed language. Close in proximity to the Wernickes
area is the primary auditory cortex, which is involved with audition, and finally
the brain region devoted to smell (olfaction) is tucked away inside the primary
olfactory cortex (prepyriform cortex).
186
Figure 6b
At the very back of the cerebral cortex lies the occipital lobe housing the
primary visual cortex. Optic nerves travel all the way to the thalamus (lateral
geniculate nucleus, LGN) and then to visual cortex, where images that are
received on the retina are projected (Hubel, 1995).
In the past 50 to 60 years, visual sense and visual pathways have been
studied extensively, and our understanding about them has increased
manifold. We now understand that all objects that form images on the retina
are transformed (transduction) in neural language handed down to the visual
cortex for further processing. In the visual cortex, all attributes (features) of the
image, such as the color, texture, and orientation, are decomposed and
processed by different visual cortical modules (Van Essen, Anderson & Felleman,
1992) and then recombined to give rise to singular perception of the image in
question.
If we cut the cerebral hemispheres in the middle, a new set of structures
come into view. Many of these perform different functions vital to our being.
For example, the limbic system contains a number of nuclei that process
memory (hippocampus and fornix) and attention and emotions (cingulate
gyrus); the globus pallidus is involved with motor movements and their
coordination; the hypothalamus and thalamus are involved with drives,
187
motivations, and trafficking of sensory and motor throughputs. The

hypothalamus plays a key role in regulating endocrine hormones in conjunction
with the pituitary gland that extends from the hypothalamus through a stalk
(infundibulum).
Figure 7
As we descend down the thalamus, the midbrain comes into view with
superior and inferior colliculi, which process visual and auditory information,
as does the substantia nigra, which is involved with notorious Parkinsons
disease, and the reticular formation regulating arousal, sleep, and temperature.
A little lower, the hindbrain with the pons processes sensory and motor
information employing the cranial nerves, works as a bridge that connects the
cerebral cortex with the medulla, and reciprocally transfers information back
and forth between the brain and the spinal cord. The medulla oblongata
processes breathing, digestion, heart and blood vessel function, swallowing,
and sneezing. The cerebellum controls motor movement coordination,
balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone.
The midbrain and the hindbrain, which make up the brain stem, culminate
in the spinal cord. Whereas inside the cerebral cortex, the gray matter (neuronal
cell bodies) lies outside and white matter (myelinated axons) inside; in the
spinal cord this arrangement reverses, as the gray matter resides inside and
188
the white matter outside. Paired nerves (ganglia) exit the spinal cord, some
closer in direction towards the back (dorsal) and others towards the front
(ventral). The dorsal nerves (afferent) receive sensory information from skin
and muscles, and ventral nerves (efferent) send signals to muscles and organs
to respond.
Studying the Nervous System

The study of the nervous system involves anatomical and physiological
techniques that have improved over the years in efficiency and caliber. Clearly,
gross morphology of the nervous system requires an eye-level view of the brain
and the spinal cord. However, to resolve minute components, optical and
electron microscopic techniques are needed.
Light microscopes and, later, electron microscopes have changed our
understanding of the intricate connections that exist among nerve cells. For
example, modern staining procedures (immunocytochemistry) make it
possible to see selected neurons that are of one type or another or are affected
by growth. With better resolution of the electron microscopes, fine structures
like the synaptic cleft between the pre- and post-synaptic neurons can be
studied in detail.
Along with the neuroanatomical techniques, a number of other
methodologies aid neuroscientists in studying the function and physiology of
the nervous system. Early on, lesion studies in animals (and study of
neurological damage in humans) provided information about the function of
the nervous system, by ablating (removing) parts of the nervous system or using
neurotoxins to destroy them and documenting the effects on behavior or
mental processes. Later, more sophisticated microelectrode techniques were
introduced, which led to recording from single neurons in the animal brains
and investigating their physiological functions. Such studies led to formulating
theories about how sensory and motor information are processed in the brain.
189
To study many neurons (millions of them at a time) electroencephalographic

(EEG) techniques were introduced. These methods are used to study how large
ensembles of neurons, representing different parts of the nervous system, with
(event-related potentials) or without stimulation function together. In addition,
many scanning techniques that visualize the brain in conjunction with methods
mentioned above are used to understand the details of the structure and
function of the brain. These include computerized axial tomography (CAT),
which uses X-rays to capture many pictures of the brain and sandwiches them
into 3-D models to study it. The resolution of this method is inferior to magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI), which is yet another way to capture brain images
using large magnets that bobble (precession) hydrogen nuclei in the brain.
Although the resolution of MRI scans is much better than CAT scans, they do
not provide any functional information about the brain. Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) involves the acquisition of physiologic (functional) images
of the brain based on the detection of positrons. Radio-labeled isotopes of
certain chemicals, such as an analog of glucose (fluorodeoxyglucose), enters
the active nerve cells and emits positrons, which are captured and mapped into
scans. Such scans show how the brain and its many modules become active (or
not) when energized with entering glucose analog. Disadvantages of PET scans
include being invasive and rendering poor spatial resolution. The latter is why
modern PET machines are coupled with CAT scanners to gain better resolution
of the functioning brain. Finally, to avoid the invasiveness of PET, functional MRI
(fMRI) techniques were developed. Brain images based on fMRI technique
visualize brain function by changes in the flow of fluids (blood) in brain areas
that occur over time. These scans provide a wealth of functional information
about the brain as the individual may engage in a task, which is why the last
two methods of brain scanning are very popular among cognitive
190
neuroscientists.
Understanding the nervous system has been a long journey of inquiry,
spanning several hundreds of years of meticulous studies carried out by some
of the most creative and versatile investigators in the fields of philosophy,
evolution, biology, physiology, anatomy, neurology, neuroscience, cognitive
sciences, and psychology. Despite our profound understanding of this organ,
its mysteries continue to surprise us, and its intricacies make us marvel at this
complex structure unmatched in the universe.
191
Outside Resources
Video: Pt. 1 video on the anatomy of the nervous system
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1zkVBHPh5c
Video: Pt. 2 video on the anatomy of the nervous system
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hC6NGQReL4
Video: To look at functions of the brain and neurons, watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UukcdU258A
Web: To look at different kinds of brains, visit
http://brainmuseum.org/
1. Why is it important to study the nervous system in an evolutionary context?
2. How can we compare changes in the nervous system made through
evolution to changes made during development?
3. What are the similarities and differences between the somatic and
autonomic nervous systems?
4. Describe functions of the midbrain and hindbrain.
5. Describe the anatomy and functions of the forebrain.
6. Compare and contrast electroencephalograms to electrophysiological
techniques.
7. Which brain scan methodologies are important for cognitive scientists?
Why?
Vocabulary
Afferent nerves
Nerves that carry messages to the brain or spinal cord.
Agnosias
Due to damage of Wernickes area. An inability to recognize objects, words, or
faces.
Aphasia
Due to damage of the Brocas area. An inability to produce or understand words.
Arcuate fasciculus
A fiber tract that connects Wernickes and Brocas speech areas.
Autonomic nervous system
A part of the peripheral nervous system that connects to glands and smooth
muscles. Consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.
Brocas area
An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language
production.
Central sulcus
The major fissure that divides the frontal and the parietal lobes.
Cerebellum
A nervous system structure behind and below the cerebrum. Controls motor
movement coordination, balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone.
Cerebrum
Consists of left and right hemispheres that sit at the top of the nervous system
and engages in a variety of higher-order functions.
Cingulate gyrus
A medial cortical portion of the nervous tissue that is a part of the limbic system.
Computerized axial tomography
A noninvasive brain-scanning procedure that uses X-ray absorption around the
head.
Ectoderm
The outermost layer of a developing fetus.
Efferent nerves
Nerves that carry messages from the brain to glands and organs in the
periphery.
Electroencephalography
A technique that is used to measure gross electrical activity of the brain by
placing electrodes on the scalp.
Event-related potentials
A physiological measure of large electrical change in the brain produced by
sensory stimulation or motor responses.
Forebrain
A part of the nervous system that contains the cerebral hemispheres, thalamus,
and hypothalamus.
Fornix
(plural form, fornices) A nerve fiber tract that connects the hippocampus to
mammillary bodies.
Frontal lobe
The most forward region (close to forehead) of the cerebral hemispheres.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
(or fMRI) A noninvasive brain-imaging technique that registers changes in blood
flow in the brain during a given task (also see magnetic resonance imaging).
Globus pallidus
A nucleus of the basal ganglia.
Gray matter
Composes the bark or the cortex of the cerebrum and consists of the cell bodies
of the neurons (see also white matter).
Gyrus
(plural form, gyri) A bulge that is raised between or among fissures of the
convoluted brain.
Hippocampus
(plural form, hippocampi) A nucleus inside (medial) the temporal lobe
implicated in learning and memory.
Homo habilis
A human ancestor, handy man, that lived two million years ago.
Homo sapiens
Modern man, the only surviving form of the genus Homo.
Hypothalamus
Part of the diencephalon. Regulates biological drives with pituitary gland.
Immunocytochemistry
A method of staining tissue including the brain, using antibodies.
Lateral geniculate nucleus

(or LGN) A nucleus in the thalamus that is innervated by the optic nerves and
sends signals to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe.
Lateral sulcus
The major fissure that delineates the temporal lobe below the frontal and the
parietal lobes.
Lesion studies
A surgical method in which a part of the animal brain is removed to study its
effects on behavior or function.
Limbic system
A loosely defined network of nuclei in the brain involved with learning and
emotion.
Magnetic resonance imaging
Or MRI is a brain imaging noninvasive technique that uses magnetic energy to
generate brain images (also see fMRI).
Magnification factor
Cortical space projected by an area of sensory input (e.g., mm of cortex per
degree of visual field).
Medulla oblongata
An area just above the spinal cord that processes breathing, digestion, heart
and blood vessel function, swallowing, and sneezing.
Motor strip
A strip of cortex just in front of the central sulcus that is involved with motor
control.
Neural crest
A set of primordial neurons that migrate outside the neural tube and give rise
to sensory and autonomic neurons in the peripheral nervous system.
Neural induction
A process that causes the formation of the neural tube.
Neuroblasts
Brain progenitor cells that asymmetrically divide into other neuroblasts or nerve
cells.
Neuroepithelium)
The lining of the neural tube.
Occipital lobe
The back part of the cerebrum, which houses the visual areas.
Parasympathetic nervous system

A division of the autonomic nervous system that is slower than its counterpart
that is, the sympathetic nervous systemand works in opposition to it.
Generally engaged in rest and digest functions.
Parietal lobe
An area of the cerebrum just behind the central sulcus that is engaged with
somatosensory and gustatory sensation.
Pons
A bridge that connects the cerebral cortex with the medulla, and reciprocally
transfers information back and forth between the brain and the spinal cord.
Positron Emission Tomography

(or PET) An invasive procedure that captures brain images with positron
emissions from the brain after the individual has been injected with radiolabeled isotopes.
Rostrocaudal
A front-back plane used to identify anatomical structures in the body and the
brain.
Somatic nervous system
A part of the peripheral nervous system that uses cranial and spinal nerves in
volitional actions.
Somatosensory strip
A strip of cerebral tissue just behind the central sulcus engaged in sensory
reception of bodily sensations.
Spina bifida
A developmental disease of the spinal cord, where the neural tube does not
close caudally.
Sulcus
(plural form, sulci) The crevices or fissures formed by convolutions in the brain.
Sympathetic nervous system
A division of the autonomic nervous system, that is faster than its counterpart
that is the parasympathetic nervous system and works in opposition to it.
Generally engaged in fight or flight functions.
Temporal lobe
An area of the cerebrum that lies below the lateral sulcus; it contains auditory
and olfactory (smell) projection regions.
Thalamus
A part of the diencephalon that works as a gateway for incoming and outgoing
information.
Transduction
A process in which physical energy converts into neural energy.
Wernickes area
A language area in the temporal lobe where linguistic information is
comprehended (Also see Brocas area).
White matter
Regions of the nervous system that represent the axons of the nerve cells;
whitish in color because of myelination of the nerve cells.
Working memory
Short transitory memory processed in the hippocampus.
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The Brain
Diane Beck & Evelina Tapia
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The human brain is responsible for all behaviors, thoughts, and experiences
described in this textbook. This chapter provides an introductory overview of
the brain, including some basic neuroanatomy, and brief descriptions of the
neuroscience methods used to study it.
Learning Objectives
Name and describe the basic function of the brain stem, cerebellum, and
cerebral hemispheres.
Name and describe the basic function of the four cerebral lobes: occipital,
temporal, parietal, and frontal cortex.
Describe a split-brain patient and at least two important aspects of brain

function that these patients reveal.
Distinguish between gray and white matter of the cerebral hemispheres.
Name and describe the most common approaches to studying the human
brain.
Distinguish among four neuroimaging methods: PET, fMRI, EEG, and DOI.
Describe the difference between spatial and temporal resolution with

regard to brain function.
Introduction
Any textbook on psychology would be incomplete without reference to the
brain. Every behavior, thought, or experience described in the other chapters
must be implemented in the brain. A detailed understanding of the human
brain can help us make sense of human experience and behavior. For example,
one well-established fact about human cognition is that it is limited. We cannot
do two complex tasks at once: We cannot read and carry on a conversation at
the same time, text and drive, or surf the Internet while listening to a lecture,
at least not successfully or safely. We cannot even pat our head and rub our
stomach at the same time (with exceptions, see A Brain Divided). Why is this?
Many people have suggested that such limitations reflect the fact that the
behaviors draw on the same resource; if one behavior uses up most of the
resource there is not enough resource left for the other. But what might this
limited resource be in the brain?
The brain uses oxygen and glucose, delivered via the blood. The brain is a
large consumer of these metabolites, using 20% of the oxygen and calories we
consume despite being only 2% of our total weight. However, as long as we are
not oxygen-deprived or malnourished, we have more than enough oxygen and
glucose to fuel the brain. Thus, insufficient brain fuel cannot explain our limited
capacity. Nor is it likely that our limitations reflect too few neurons. The average
human brain contains 100 billion neurons. It is also not the case that we use
only 10% of our brain, a myth that was likely started to imply we had untapped
potential. Modern neuroimaging (see Studying the Human Brain) has shown
that we use all parts of brain, just at different times, and certainly more than
10% at any one time.
nobaproject.com - The Brain
209
Figure 1. An MRI of the human brain delineating three major structures: the cerebral
hemispheres, brain stem, and cerebellum.
If we have an abundance of brain fuel and neurons, how can we explain our
limited cognitive abilities? Why cant we do more at once? The most likely
explanation is the way these neurons are wired up. We know, for instance, that
many neurons in the visual cortex (the part of the brain responsible for
processing visual information) are hooked up in such a way as to inhibit each
other (Beck & Kastner, 2009). When one neuron fires, it suppresses the firing
of other nearby neurons. If two neurons that are hooked up in an inhibitory
way both fire, then neither neuron can fire as vigorously as it would otherwise.
This competitive behavior among neurons limits how much visual information
the brain can respond to at the same time. Similar kinds of competitive wiring
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among neurons may underlie many of our limitations. Thus, although talking
about limited resources provides an intuitive description of our limited capacity
behavior, a detailed understanding of the brain suggests that our limitations
more likely reflect the complex way in which neurons talk to each other rather
than the depletion of any specific resource.
The Anatomy of the Brain

There are many ways to subdivide the mammalian brain, resulting in some
inconsistent and ambiguous nomenclature over the history of neuroanatomy
(Swanson, 2000). For simplicity, we will divide the brain into three basic parts:
the brain stem, cerebellum, and cerebral hemispheres (see Figure 1). In Figure
2, however, we depict other prominent groupings (Swanson, 2000) of the six
major subdivisions of the brain (Kandal, Schwartz, & Jessell, 2000).
Brain Stem
The brain stem is sometimes referred to as the trunk of the brain. It is
responsible for many of the neural functions that keep us alive, including
regulating our respiration (breathing), heart rate, and digestion. In keeping with
its function, if a patient sustains severe damage to the brain stem he or she will
require life support (i.e., machines are used to keep him or her alive). Because
of its vital role in survival, in many countries a person who has lost brain stem
function is said to be brain dead, although other countries require significant
tissue loss in the cortex (of the cerebral hemispheres), which is responsible for
our conscious experience, for the same diagnosis. The brain stem includes the
medulla, pons, midbrain, and diencephalon (which consists of thalamus and
hypothalamus). Collectively, these regions also are involved in our sleepwake
cycle, some sensory and motor function, as well as growth and other hormonal
behaviors.
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Figure 2. A sample of neuroanatomy nomenclature. The colored boxes indicate the different
groupings of the seven structures printed in black, with the labels matching the color of the
boxes. The hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain nomenclature stems from the development of
the vertebrate brain; these three areas differentiate early in embryonic development and later
give rise to the structures listed in black. These three areas further subdivide into the
telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, metencephalon, and myelencephalon at a
later stage of development.
Cerebellum
The cerebellum is the distinctive structure at the back of the brain. The Greek
philosopher and scientist Aristotle aptly referred to it as the small brain
(parencephalon in Greek, cerebellum in Latin) in order to distinguish it from
the large brain (encephalon in Greek, cerebrum in Latin). The cerebellum
is critical for coordinated movement and posture. More recently, neuroimaging
studies (see Studying the Human Brain) have implicated it in a range of
cognitive abilities, including language. It is perhaps not surprising that the
212
cerebellums influence extends beyond that of movement and posture, given

that it contains the greatest number of neurons of any structure in the brain.
However, the exact role it plays in these higher functions is still a matter of
further study.
Cerebral Hemispheres
The cerebral hemispheres are responsible for our cognitive abilities and
conscious experience. They consist of the cerebral cortex and accompanying
white matter (cerebrum in Latin) as well as the subcortical structures of the
basal ganglia, amygdala, and hippocampal formation. The cerebral cortex is the
largest and most visible part of the brain, retaining the Latin name (cerebrum)
for large brain that Aristotle coined. It consists of two hemispheres (literally
two half spheres) and gives the brain its characteristic gray and convoluted
appearance; the folds and grooves of the cortex are called gyri and sulci (gyrus
and sulcus if referring to just one), respectively.
The two cerebral hemispheres can be further subdivided into four lobes:
the occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes. The occipital lobe is
responsible for vision, as is much of the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is
also involved in auditory processing, memory, and multisensory integration (e.
g., the convergence of vision and audition). The parietal lobe houses the
somatosensory (body sensations) cortex and structures involved in visual
attention, as well as multisensory convergence zones. The frontal lobe houses
the motor cortex and structures involved in motor planning, language,
judgment, and decision-making. Not surprisingly then, the frontal lobe is
proportionally larger in humans than in any other animal.
The subcortical structures are so named because they reside beneath the
cortex. The basal ganglia are critical to voluntary movement and as such make
contact with the cortex, the thalamus, and the brain stem. The amygdala and
hippocampal formation are part of the limbic system, which also includes some
213
cortical structures. The limbic system plays an important role in emotion and,
in particular, in aversion and gratification.
A Brain Divided
The two cerebral hemispheres are connected by a dense bundle of white matter
tracts called the corpus callosum. Some functions are replicated in the two
hemispheres. For example, both hemispheres are responsible for sensory and
motor function, although the sensory and motor cortices have a contralateral
(or opposite-side) representation; that is, the left cerebral hemisphere is
responsible for movements and sensations on the right side of the body and
the right cerebral hemisphere is responsible for movements and sensations on
the left side of the body. Other functions are lateralized; that is, they reside
primarily in one hemisphere or the other. For example, for right-handed and
the majority of left-handed individuals, the left hemisphere is most responsible
for language.
There are some people whose two hemispheres are not connected, either
because the corpus callosum was surgically severed (callosotomy) or due to a
genetic abnormality. These split-brain patients have helped us understand the
functioning of the two hemispheres. First, because of the contralateral
representation of sensory information, if an object is placed in only the left or
only the right visual hemifield, then only the right or left hemisphere,
respectively, of the split-brain patient will see it. In essence, it is as though the
person has two brains in his or her head, each seeing half the world.
Interestingly, because language is very often localized in the left hemisphere,
if we show the right hemisphere a picture and ask the patient what she saw,
she will say she didnt see anything (because only the left hemisphere can speak
and it didnt see anything). However, we know that the right hemisphere sees
the picture because if the patient is asked to press a button whenever she sees
the image, the left hand (which is controlled by the right hemisphere) will
214
respond despite the left hemispheres denial that anything was there. There
are also some advantages to having disconnected hemispheres. Unlike those
with a fully functional corpus callosum, a split-brain patient can simultaneously
search for something in his right and left visual fields (Luck, Hillyard, Mangun,
& Gazzaniga, 1989) and can do the equivalent of rubbing his stomach and
patting his head at the same time (Franz, Eliason, Ivry, & Gazzaniga, 1996). In
other words, they exhibit less competition between the hemispheres.
Gray Versus White Matter

The cerebral hemispheres contain both grey and white matter, so called
because they appear grayish and whitish in dissections or in an MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging; see, Studying the Human Brain). The gray matter is
composed of the neuronal cell bodies (see chapter, Neurons). The cell bodies
(or soma) contain the genes of the cell and are responsible for metabolism
(keeping the cell alive) and synthesizing proteins. In this way, the cell body is
the workhorse of the cell. The white matter is composed of the axons of the
neurons, and, in particular, axons that are covered with a sheath of myelin (fatty
support cells that are whitish in color). Axons conduct the electrical signals from
the cell and are, therefore, critical to cell communication. People use the
expression use your gray matter when they want a person to think harder.
The gray matter in this expression is probably a reference to the cerebral
hemispheres more generally; the gray cortical sheet (the convoluted surface of
the cortex) being the most visible. However, both the gray matter and white
matter are critical to proper functioning of the mind. Losses of either result in
deficits in language, memory, reasoning, and other mental functions. See Figure
3 for MRI slices showing both the inner white matter that connects the cell
bodies in the gray cortical sheet.
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Figure 3. MRI slices of the human brain. Both the outer gray matter and inner white matter
are visible in each image. The brain is a three-dimensional (3-D) structure, but an image is
two-dimensional (2-D). Here, we show example slices of the three possible 2-D cuts through
the brain: a saggital slice (green), a horizontal slice (blue), which is also know as a transverse
or axial slice, and a coronal slice (red). The bottom two images are color coded to match the
illustration of the relative orientations of the three slices in the top image.
Studying the Human Brain

How do we know what the brain does? We have gathered knowledge about the
functions of the brain from many different methods. Each method is useful for
answering distinct types of questions, but the strongest evidence for a specific
role or function of a particular brain area is converging evidence; that is, similar
216
findings reported from multiple studies using different methods.

One of the first organized attempts to study the functions of the brain was
phrenology, a popular field of study in the first half of the 19th century.
Phrenologists assumed that various features of the brain, such as its uneven
surface, are reflected on the skull; therefore, they attempted to correlate bumps
and indentations of the skull with specific functions of the brain. For example,
they would claim that a very artistic person has ridges on the head that vary in
size and location from those of someone who is very good at spatial reasoning.
Although the assumption that the skull reflects the underlying brain structure
has been proven wrong, phrenology nonetheless significantly impacted
current-day neuroscience and its thinking about the functions of the brain. That
is, different parts of the brain are devoted to very specific functions that can be
identified through scientific inquiry.
Neuroanatomy
Dissection of the brain, in either animals or cadavers, has been a critical tool of
neuroscientists since 340 BC when Aristotle first published his dissections. Since
then this method has advanced considerably with the discovery of various
staining techniques that can highlight particular cells. Because the brain can be
sliced very thinly, examined under the microscope, and particular cells
highlighted, this method is especially useful for studying specific groups of
neurons or small brain structures; that is, it has a very high spatial resolution.
Dissections allow scientists to study changes in the brain that occur due to
various diseases or experiences (e.g., exposure to drugs or brain injuries).
Virtual dissection studies with living humans are also conducted. Here, the
brain is imaged using computerized axial tomography (CAT) or MRI scanners;
they reveal with very high precision the various structures in the brain and can
help detect changes in gray or white matter. These changes in the brain can
then be correlated with behavior, such as performance on memory tests, and,
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therefore, implicate specific brain areas in certain cognitive functions.
Changing the Brain

Some researchers induce lesions or ablate (i.e., remove) parts of the brain in
animals. If the animals behavior changes after the lesion, we can infer that the
removed structure is important for that behavior. Lesions of human brains are
studied in patient populations only; that is, patients who have lost a brain region
due to a stroke or other injury, or who have had surgical removal of a structure
to treat a particular disease (e.g., a callosotomy to control epilepsy, as in splitbrain patients). From such case studies, we can infer brain function by
measuring changes in the behavior of the patients before and after the lesion.
Because the brain works by generating electrical signals, it is also possible
to change brain function with electrical stimulation. Transcranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS) refers to a technique whereby a brief magnetic pulse is
applied to the head that temporarily induces a weak electrical current in the
brain. Although effects of TMS are sometimes referred to as temporary virtual
lesions, it is more appropriate to describe the induced electricity as interference
with neurons normal communication with each other. TMS allows very precise
study of when events in the brain happen so it has a good temporal resolution,
but its application is limited only to the surface of the cortex and cannot extend
to deep areas of the brain.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is similar to TMS except that
it uses electrical current directly, rather than inducing it with magnetic pulses,
by placing small electrodes on the skull. A brain area is stimulated by a low
current (equivalent to an AA battery) for a more extended period of time than
TMS. When used in combination with cognitive training, tDCS has been shown
to improve performance of many cognitive functions such as mathematical
ability, memory, attention, and coordination (e.g., Brasil-Neto, 2012; Feng,
Bowden, & Kautz, 2013; Kuo & Nitsche, 2012).
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Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging tools are used to study the brain in action; that is, when it is
engaged in a specific task. Positron emission topography (PET) records blood
flow in the brain. The PET scanner detects the radioactive substance that is
injected into the bloodstream of the participant just before or while he or she
is performing some task (e.g., adding numbers). Because active neuron
populations require metabolites, more blood and hence more radioactive
substance flows into those regions. PET scanners detect the injected radioactive
substance in specific brain regions, allowing researchers to infer that those
areas were active during the task. Functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) also relies on blood flow in the brain. This method, however, measures
the changes in oxygen levels in the blood and does not require any substance
to be injected into the participant. Both of these tools have good spatial
resolution (although not as precise as dissection studies), but because it takes
at least several seconds for the blood to arrive to the active areas of the brain,
PET and fMRI have poor temporal resolution; that is, they do not tell us very
precisely when the activity occurred.
Electroencephalography (EEG), on the other hand, measures the electrical
activity of the brain, and therefore, it has a much greater temporal resolution
(millisecond precision rather than seconds) than PET or fMRI. Like tDCS,
electrodes are placed on the participants head when he or she is performing
a task. In this case, however, many more electrodes are used, and they measure
rather than produce activity. Because the electrical activity picked up at any
particular electrode can be coming from anywhere in the brain, EEG has poor
spatial resolution; that is, we have only a rough idea of which part of the brain
generates the measured activity.
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Diffuse optical imaging (DOI) can give researchers the best of both worlds:
high spatial and temporal resolution, depending on how it is used. Here, one
shines infrared light into the brain, and measures the light that comes back out.
DOI relies on the fact that the properties of the light change when it passes
through oxygenated blood, or when it encounters active neurons. Researchers
can then infer from the properties of the collected light what regions in the
brain were engaged by the task. When DOI is set up to detect changes in blood
oxygen levels, the temporal resolution is low and comparable to PET or fMRI.
However, when DOI is set up to directly detect active neurons, it has both high
spatial and temporal resolution.
Because the spatial and temporal resolution of each tool varies, strongest
evidence for what role a certain brain area serves comes from converging
evidence. For example, we are more likely to believe that the hippocampal
formation is involved in memory if multiple studies using a variety of tasks and
different neuroimaging tools provide evidence for this hypothesis. The brain is
a complex system, and only advances in brain research will show whether the
brain can ever really understand itself.
220
Outside Resources
Video: Brain Bank at Harvard (National Geographic video)
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/science/health-human-body-sci/humanbody/brain-bank-sci/
Video: Frontal Lobes and Behavior (video #25)
http://www.learner.org/resources/series142.html
Video: Organization and Evaluation of Human Brain Function video (video #1)
Video: Videos of a split-brain patient
http://youtu.be/ZMLzP1VCANo
Video: Videos of a split-brain patient (video #5)
Web: Atlas of the Human Brain: interactive demos and brain sections
http://www.thehumanbrain.info/
Web: Harvard University Human Brain Atlas: normal and diseased brain
scans
http://www.med.harvard.edu/aanlib/home.html
1. In what ways does the segmentation of the brain into the brain stem,
cerebellum, and cerebral hemispheres provide a natural division?
2. How has the study of split-brain patients been informative?
3. What is behind the expression use your gray matter, and why is it not
entirely accurate?
4. Why is converging evidence the best kind of evidence in the study of brain
function?
5. If you were interested in whether a particular brain area was involved in a
specific behavior, what neuroscience methods could you use?
6. If you were interested in the precise time in which a particular brain process
occurred, which neuroscience methods could you use?
Vocabulary
Ablation
Surgical removal of brain tissue.
Axial plane
See horizontal plane.
Basal ganglia
Subcortical structures of the cerebral hemispheres involved in voluntary
movement.
Brain stem
The trunk of the brain comprised of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and
diencephalon.
Callosotomy
Surgical procedure in which the corpus callosum is severed (used to control
severe epilepsy).
Case study
A thorough study of a patient (or a few patients) with naturally occurring lesions.
Cerebellum
The distinctive structure at the back of the brain, Latin for small brain.
Cerebral cortex
The outermost gray matter of the cerebrum; the distinctive convolutions
characteristic of the mammalian brain.
Cerebral hemispheres
The cerebral cortex, underlying white matter, and subcortical structures.
Cerebrum
Usually refers to the cerebral cortex and associated white matter, but in some
texts includes the subcortical structures.
Contralateral
Literally opposite side; used to refer to the fact that the two hemispheres of
the brain process sensory information and motor commands for the opposite
side of the body (e.g., the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body).
Converging evidence
Similar findings reported from multiple studies using different methods.
Coronal plane
A slice that runs from head to foot; brain slices in this plane are similar to slices
of a loaf of bread, with the eyes being the front of the loaf.
Diffuse optical imaging (DOI)

A neuroimaging technique that infers brain activity by measuring changes in
light as it is passed through the skull and surface of the brain.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A neuroimaging technique that measures electrical brain activity via multiple
electrodes on the scalp.
Frontal lobe
The front most (anterior) part of the cerebrum; anterior to the central sulcus
and responsible for motor output and planning, language, judgment, and
decision-making.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): A neuroimaging technique that
infers brain activity by measuring changes in oxygen levels in the blood.
Gray matter
The outer grayish regions of the brain comprised of the neurons cell bodies.
Gyri
(plural) Folds between sulci in the cortex.
Gyrus
A fold between sulci in the cortex.
Horizontal plane
A slice that runs horizontally through a standing person (i.e., parallel to the
floor); slices of brain in this plane divide the top and bottom parts of the brain;
this plane is similar to slicing a hamburger bun.
Lateralized
To the side; used to refer to the fact that specific functions may reside primarily
in one hemisphere or the other (e.g., for the majority individuals, the left
hemisphere is most responsible for language).
Lesion
A region in the brain that suffered damage through injury, disease, or medical
intervention.
Limbic system
Includes the subcortical structures of the amygdala and hippocampal formation
as well as some cortical structures; responsible for aversion and gratification.
Metabolite
A substance necessary for a living organism to maintain life.
Motor cortex
Region of the frontal lobe responsible for voluntary movement; the motor
cortex has a contralateral representation of the human body.
Myelin
Fatty tissue, produced by glial cells (see chapter, Neurons) that insulates the
axons of the neurons; myelin is necessary for normal conduction of electrical
impulses among neurons.
Nomenclature
Naming conventions.
Occipital lobe
The back most (posterior) part of the cerebrum; involved in vision.
Parietal lobe
The part of the cerebrum between the frontal and occipital lobes; involved in
bodily sensations, visual attention, and integrating the senses.
Phrenology
A now-discredited field of brain study, popular in the first half of the 19th century
that correlated bumps and indentations of the skull with specific functions of
the brain.
Positron emission topography (PET)

A neuroimaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting the
presence of a radioactive substance in the brain that is initially injected into the
bloodstream and then pulled in by active brain tissue.
Sagittal plane
A slice that runs vertically from front to back; slices of brain in this plane divide
the left and right side of the brain; this plane is similar to slicing a baked potato
lengthwise.
Somatosensory (body sensations) cortex

The region of the parietal lobe responsible for bodily sensations; the
somatosensory cortex has a contralateral representation of the human body.
Spatial resolution
A term that refers to how small the elements of an image are; high spatial
resolution means the device or technique can resolve very small elements; in
neuroscience it describes how small of a structure in the brain can be imaged.
Split-brain patient
A patient who has had most or all of his or her corpus callosum severed.
Subcortical
Structures that lie beneath the cerebral cortex, but above the brain stem.
Sulci
(plural) Grooves separating folds of the cortex.
Sulcus
A groove separating folds of the cortex.
Temporal lobe
The part of the cerebrum in front of (anterior to) the occipital lobe and below
the lateral fissure; involved in vision, auditory processing, memory, and
integrating vision and audition.
Temporal resolution
A term that refers to how small a unit of time can be measured; high temporal
resolution means capable of resolving very small units of time; in neuroscience
it describes how precisely in time a process can be measured in the brain.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
A neuroscience technique that passes mild electrical current directly through
a brain area by placing small electrodes on the skull.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
A neuroscience technique whereby a brief magnetic pulse is applied to the head
that temporarily induces a weak electrical current that interferes with ongoing
activity.
Transverse plane
See horizontal plane.
Visual hemifield
The half of visual space (what we see) on one side of fixation (where we are
looking); the left hemisphere is responsible for the right visual hemifield, and
the right hemisphere is responsible for the left visual hemifield.
White matter
The inner whitish regions of the cerebrum comprised of the myelinated axons
of neurons in the cerebral cortex.
Reference List
Beck, D. M., & Kastner, S. (2009). Top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in
biasing competition in the human brain. Vision Research, 49, 11541165.
Brasil-Neto, J. P. (2012). Learning, memory, and transcranial direct current
stimulation. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 3(80). doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00080.
Feng, W. W., Bowden, M. G., & Kautz, S. (2013). Review of transcranial direct
current stimulation in poststroke recovery. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation,
20, 6877.
Franz, E. A., Eliassen, J. C., Ivry, R. B., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (1996). Dissociation of
spatial and temporal coupling in the bimanual movements of callosotomy
patients. Psychological Science, 7, 306310.
Kandal, E. R., Schwartz, J. H., & Jessell, T. M. (Eds.) (2000). Principles of neural
science (Vol. 4). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Kuo, M. F., & Nitsche, M. A. (2012). Effects of transcranial electrical stimulation
on cognition. Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 43, 192199.
Luck, S. J., Hillyard, S. A., Mangun, G. R., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (1989). Independent
hemispheric attentional systems mediate visual search in split-brain
patients. Nature, 342, 543545.
Swanson, L. (2000). What is the brain? Trends in Neurosciences, 23, 519527.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Brain by Diane Beck and Evelina Tapia is
licensed
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the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Hormones & Behavior

Randy J. Nelson
The Ohio State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to introduce you to the topic of hormones and
behavior. This field of study is also called behavioral endocrinology, which is
the scientific study of the interaction between hormones and behavior. This
interaction is bidirectional: hormones can influence behavior, and behavior can
sometimes influence hormone concentrations. Hormones are chemical
messengers released from endocrine glands that travel through the blood
system to influence the nervous system to regulate behaviors such as
aggression, mating, and parenting of individuals.
Learning Objectives
Define the basic terminology and basic principles of hormonebehavior

interactions.
Explain the role of hormones in behavioral sex differentiation.
Explain the role of hormones in aggressive behavior.
Explain the role of hormones in parental behavior.
Provide examples of some common hormonebehavior interactions.
Introduction
This chapter describes the relationship between hormones and behavior. Many
readers are likely already familiar with the general idea that hormones can
affect behavior. Students are generally familiar with the idea that sex-hormone
concentrations increase in the blood during puberty and decrease as we age,
especially after about 50 years of age. Sexual behavior shows a similar pattern.
Most people also know about the relationship between aggression and anabolic
steroid hormones, and they know that administration of artificial steroid
hormones sometimes results in uncontrollable, violent behavior called roid
rage. Many different hormones can influence several types of behavior, but
for the purpose of this chapter, we will restrict our discussion to just a few
examples of hormones and behaviors. For example, are behavioral sex
differences the result of hormones, the environment, or some combination of
factors? Why are men much more likely than women to commit aggressive acts?
Are hormones involved in mediating the so-called maternal instinct?
Behavioral endocrinologists are interested in how the general physiological
effects of hormones alter the development and expression of behavior and
how behavior may influence the effects of hormones. This chapter describes,
both phenomenologically and functionally, how hormones affect behavior.
nobaproject.com - Hormones & Behavior
235
To understand the hormone-behavior relationship, it is important briefly to

describe hormones. Hormones are organic chemical messengers produced
and released by specialized glands called endocrine glands. Hormones are
released from these glands into the blood, where they may travel to act on
target structures at some distance from their origin. Hormones are similar in
function to neurotransmitters, the chemicals used by the nervous system in
coordinating animals activities. However, hormones can operate over a greater
distance and over a much greater temporal range than neurotransmitters (Box
1). Examples of hormones that influence behavior include steroid hormones
such as testosterone (a common type of androgen), estradiol (a common type
of estrogen), progesterone (a common type of progestin), and cortisol (a
common type of glucocorticoid) (Table 1). Several types of protein or peptide
236
(small protein) hormones also influence behavior, including oxytocin,

vasopressin, prolactin, and leptin.
Hormones coordinate the physiology and behavior of individuals by

regulating, integrating, and controlling bodily functions. Over evolutionary time,
hormones have often been co-opted by the nervous system to influence
behavior to ensure reproductive success. For example, the same hormones,
testosterone and estradiol, that cause gamete (egg or sperm) maturation also
promote mating behavior. This dual hormonal function ensures that mating
behavior occurs when animals have mature gametes available for fertilization.
Another example of endocrine regulation of physiological and behavioral
function is provided by pregnancy. Estrogens and progesterone concentrations
are elevated during pregnancy, and these hormones are often involved in
mediating maternal behavior in the mothers.
Not all cells are influenced by each and every hormone. Rather, any given
hormone can directly influence only cells that have specific hormone receptors
for that particular hormone. Cells that have these specific receptors are called
target cells for the hormone. The interaction of a hormone with its receptor
begins a series of cellular events that eventually lead to activation of enzymatic
237
pathways or, alternatively, turns on or turns off gene activation that regulates
protein synthesis. The newly synthesized proteins may activate or deactivate
other genes, causing yet another cascade of cellular events. Importantly,
sufficient numbers of appropriate hormone receptors must be available for a
specific hormone to produce any effects. For example, testosterone is
important for male sexual behavior. If men have too little testosterone, then
sexual motivation may be low, and it can be restored by testosterone treatment.
However, if men have normal or even elevated levels of testosterone yet display
low sexual drive, then it might be possible for a lack of receptors to be the cause
and treatment with additional hormones will not be effective.
How might hormones affect behavior? In terms of their behavior, one can
think of humans and other animals conceptually as comprised of three
interacting components: (1) input systems (sensory systems), (2) integrators
(the central nervous system), and (3) output systems, or effectors (e.g., muscles).
Hormones do not cause behavioral changes. Rather, hormones influence these
three systems so that specific stimuli are more likely to elicit certain responses
in the appropriate behavioral or social context. In other words, hormones
change the probability that a particular behavior will be emitted in the
appropriate situation (Nelson, 2011). This is a critical distinction that can affect
how we think of hormone-behavior relationships.
We can apply this three-component behavioral scheme to a simple behavior,
singing in zebra finches. Only male zebra finches sing. If the testes of adult male
finches are removed, then the birds reduce singing, but castrated finches
resume singing if the testes are reimplanted, or if the birds are treated with
either testosterone or estradiol. Although we commonly consider androgens
to be male hormones and estrogens to be female hormones, it is common
for testosterone to be converted to estradiol in nerve cells (Figure 1). Thus, many
male-like behaviors are associated with the actions of estrogens! Indeed, all
estrogens must first be converted from androgens because of the typical
biochemical synthesis process. If the converting enzyme is low or missing, then
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it is possible for females to produce excessive androgens and subsequently

develop associated male traits. It is also possible for estrogens in the
environment to affect the nervous system of animals, including people (e.g.,
Kidd et al., 2007). Again, singing behavior is most frequent when blood
testosterone or estrogen concentrations are high. Males sing to attract mates
or ward off potential competitors from their territories.
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Figure 1. Biochemical Pathway for Steroid Hormone Synthesis: It is important to note that
testosterone (an androgen) can be converted to another androgen, DHT, or an estrogen,
estradiol. Too much or too little of the converting enzymes can influence brain and behavior.
Although it is apparent from these observations that estrogens are

somehow involved in singing, how might the three-component framework just
introduced help us to formulate hypotheses to explore estrogens role in this
behavior? By examining input systems, we could determine whether estrogens
alter the birds sensory capabilities, making the environmental cues that
normally elicit singing more salient. If this were the case, then females or
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competitors might be more easily seen or heard. Estrogens also could influence
the central nervous system. Neuronal architecture or the speed of neural
processing could change in the presence of estrogens. Higher neural processes
(e.g., motivation, attention, or perception) also might be influenced. Finally, the
effector organs, muscles in this case, could be affected by the presence of
estrogens. Blood estrogen concentrations might somehow affect the muscles
of a songbirds syrinx (the vocal organ of birds). Estrogens, therefore, could
affect birdsong by influencing the sensory capabilities, central processing
system, or effector organs of an individual bird. We do not understand
completely how estrogen, derived from testosterone, influences birdsong, but
in most cases, hormones can be considered to affect behavior by influencing
one, two, or all three of these components, and this three-part framework can
aid in the design of hypotheses and experiments to explore these issues.
How
might
behaviors
affect
hormones?
The
birdsong
example
demonstrates how hormones can affect behavior, but as noted, the reciprocal
relation also occurs; that is, behavior can affect hormone concentrations. For
example, the sight of a territorial intruder may elevate blood testosterone
concentrations in resident male birds and thereby stimulate singing or fighting
behavior. Similarly, male mice or rhesus monkeys that lose a fight decrease
circulating testosterone concentrations for several days or even weeks
afterward. Comparable results have also been reported in humans.
Testosterone concentrations are affected not only in humans involved in
physical combat, but also in those involved in simulated battles. For example,
testosterone concentrations were elevated in winners and reduced in losers of
regional chess tournaments.
People do not have to be directly involved in a contest to have their
hormones affected by the outcome of the contest. Male fans of both the
Brazilian and Italian teams were recruited to provide saliva samples to be
assayed for testosterone before and after the final game of the World Cup
soccer match in 1994. Brazil and Italy were tied going into the final game, but
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Brazil won on a penalty kick at the last possible moment. The Brazilian fans
were elated and the Italian fans were crestfallen. When the samples were
assayed, 11 of 12 Brazilian fans who were sampled had increased testosterone
concentrations, and 9 of 9 Italian fans had decreased testosterone
concentrations, compared with pre-game baseline values (Dabbs, 2000).
In some cases, hormones can be affected by anticipation of behavior. For
example, testosterone concentrations also influence sexual motivation and
behavior in women. In one study, the interaction between sexual intercourse
and testosterone was compared with other activities (cuddling or exercise) in
women (van Anders, Hamilton, Schmidt, & Watson, 2007). On three separate
occasions, women provided a pre-activity, post-activity, and next-morning saliva
sample. After analysis, the womens testosterone was determined to be
elevated prior to intercourse as compared to other times. Thus, an anticipatory
relationship exists between sexual behavior and testosterone. Testosterone
values were higher post-intercourse compared to exercise, suggesting that
engaging in sexual behavior may also influence hormone concentrations in
women.
Sex Differences
Hens and roosters are different. Cows and bulls are different. Men and women
are different. Even girls and boys are different. Humans, like many animals, are
sexually dimorphic (di, two; morph, type) in the size and shape of their bodies,
their physiology, and for our purposes, their behavior. The behavior of boys
and girls differs in many ways. Girls generally excel in verbal abilities relative to
boys; boys are nearly twice as likely as girls to suffer from dyslexia (reading
difficulties) and stuttering and nearly 4 times more likely to suffer from autism.
Boys are generally better than girls at tasks that require visuospatial abilities.
Girls engage in nurturing behaviors more frequently than boys. More than 90%
of all anorexia nervosa cases involve young women. Young men are twice as
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likely as young women to suffer from schizophrenia. Boys are much more
aggressive and generally engage in more rough-and-tumble play than girls
(Berenbaum, Martin, Hanish, Briggs, & Fabes, 2008). Many sex differences, such
as the difference in aggressiveness, persist throughout adulthood. For example,
there are many more men than women serving prison sentences for violent
behavior. The hormonal differences between men and women may account
for adult sex differences that develop during puberty, but what accounts for
behavioral sex differences among children prior to puberty and activation of
their gonads? Hormonal secretions from the developing gonads determine
whether the individual develops in a male or female manner. The mammalian
embryonic testes produce androgens, as well as peptide hormones, that steer
the development of the body, central nervous system, and subsequent behavior
in a male direction. The embryonic ovaries of mammals are virtually quiescent
and do not secrete high concentrations of hormones. In the presence of ovaries,
or in the complete absence of any gonads, morphological, neural, and, later,
behavioral development follows a female pathway.
Gonadal steroid hormones have organizational (or programming) effects
upon brain and behavior (Phoenix, Goy, Gerall, & Young, 1959). The organizing
effects of steroid hormones are relatively constrained to the early stages of
development. An asymmetry exists in the effects of testes and ovaries on the
organization of behavior in mammals. Hormone exposure early in life has
organizational effects on subsequent rodent behavior; early steroid hormone
treatment causes relatively irreversible and permanent masculinization of
rodent behavior (mating and aggressive). These early hormone effects can be
contrasted with the reversible behavioral influences of steroid hormones
provided in adulthood, which are called activational effects. The activational
effects of hormones on adult behavior are temporary and may wane soon after
the hormone is metabolized. Thus, typical male behavior requires exposure to
androgens during gestation (in humans) or immediately after birth (in rodents)
to somewhat masculinize the brain and also requires androgens during or after
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puberty to activate these neural circuits. Typical female behavior requires a lack
of exposure to androgens early in life which leads to feminization of the brain
and also requires estrogens to activate these neural circuits in adulthood. But
this simple dichotomy, which works well with animals with very distinct sexual
dimorphism in behavior, has many caveats when applied to people.
If you walk through any major toy store, then you will likely observe a couple
of aisles filled with pink boxes and the complete absence of pink packaging of
toys in adjacent aisles. Remarkably, you will also see a strong self-segregation
of boys and girls in these aisles. It is rare to see boys in the pink aisles and vice
versa. The toy manufacturers are often accused of making toys that are gender
biased, but it seems more likely that boys and girls enjoy playing with specific
types and colors of toys. Indeed, toy manufacturers would immediately double
their sales if they could sell toys to both sexes. Boys generally prefer toys such
as trucks and balls and girls generally prefer toys such as dolls. Although it is
doubtful that there are genes that encode preferences for toy cars and trucks
on the Y chromosome, it is possible that hormones might shape the
development of a childs brain to prefer certain types of toys or styles of play
behavior. It is reasonable to believe that children learn which types of toys and
which styles of play are appropriate to their gender. How can we understand
and separate the contribution of physiological mechanisms from learning to
understand sex differences in human behaviors? To untangle these issues,
animal models are often used. Unlike the situation in humans, where sex
differences are usually only a matter of degree (often slight), in some animals,
members of only one sex may display a particular behavior. As noted, often
only male songbirds sing. Studies of such strongly sex-biased behaviors are
particularly valuable for understanding the interaction among behavior,
hormones, and the nervous system.
244
A study of vervet monkeys calls into question the primacy of learning in the
establishment of toy preferences (Alexander & Hines, 2002). Female vervet
monkeys preferred girl-typical toys, such as dolls or cooking pots, whereas male
vervet monkeys preferred boy-typical toys, such as cars or balls. There were no
sex differences in preference for gender-neutral toys, such as picture books or
stuffed animals. Presumably, monkeys have no prior concept of boy or girl
toys. Young rhesus monkeys also show similar toy preferences.
What then underlies the sex difference in toy preference? It is possible that
certain attributes of toys (or objects) appeal to either boys or girls. Toys that
appeal to boys or male vervet or rhesus monkeys, in this case, a ball or toy car,
are objects that can be moved actively through space, toys that can be
incorporated into active, rough and tumble play. The appeal of toys that girls
or female vervet monkeys prefer appears to be based on color. Pink and red
(the colors of the doll and pot) may provoke attention to infants.
Society may reinforce such stereotypical responses to gender-typical toys.
The sex differences in toy preferences emerge by 12 or 24 months of age and
seem fixed by 36 months of age, but are sex differences in toy preference
present during the first year of life? It is difficult to ask pre-verbal infants what
they prefer, but in studies where the investigators examined the amount of
time that babies looked at different toys, eye-tracking data indicate that infants
as young as 3 months showed sex differences in toy preferences; girls preferred
dolls, whereas boys preferred trucks. Another result that suggests, but does
not prove, that hormones are involved in toy preferences is the observation
that girls diagnosed with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), whose adrenal
glands produce varying amounts of androgens early in life, played with
masculine toys more often than girls without CAH. Further, a dose-response
relationship between the extent of the disorder (i.e., degree of fetal androgen
exposure) and degree of masculinization of play behavior was observed. Are
the sex differences in toy preferences or play activity, for example, the inevitable
consequences of the differential endocrine environments of boys and girls, or
245
are these differences imposed by cultural practices and beliefs? Are these
differences the result of receiving gender-specific toys from an early age, or are
these differences some combination of endocrine and cultural factors? Again,
these are difficult questions to unravel in people.
Even when behavioral sex differences appear early in development, there
seems to be some question regarding the influences of societal expectations.
One example is the pattern of human play behavior during which males are
more physical; this pattern is seen in a number of other species including
nonhuman primates, rats, and dogs. Is the difference in the frequency of roughand-tumble play between boys and girls due to biological factors associated
with being male or female, or is it due to cultural expectations and learning? If
there is a combination of biological and cultural influences mediating the
frequency of rough-and-tumble play, then what proportion of the variation
between the sexes is due to biological factors and what proportion is due to
social influences? Importantly, is it appropriate to talk about normal sex
differences when these traits virtually always arrange themselves along a
continuum rather than in discrete categories?
Sex differences are common in humans and in nonhuman animals. Because
males and females differ in the ratio of androgenic and estrogenic steroid
hormone concentrations, behavioral endocrinologists have been particularly
interested in the extent to which behavioral sex differences are mediated by
hormones. The process of becoming female or male is called sexual
differentiation. The primary step in sexual differentiation occurs at fertilization.
In mammals, the ovum (which always contains an X chromosome) can be
fertilized by a sperm bearing either a Y or an X chromosome; this process is
called sex determination. The chromosomal sex of homogametic mammals
(XX) is female; the chromosomal sex of heterogametic mammals (XY) is male.
Chromosomal sex determines gonadal sex. Virtually all subsequent sexual
differentiation is typically the result of differential exposure to gonadal steroid
hormones. Thus, gonadal sex determines hormonal sex, which regulates
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morphological sex. Morphological differences in the central nervous system,

as well as in some effector organs, such as muscles, lead to behavioral sex
differences. The process of sexual differentiation is complicated, and the
potential for errors is present. Perinatal exposure to androgens is the most
common cause of anomalous sexual differentiation among females. The source
of androgen may be internal (e.g., secreted by the adrenal glands) or external
(e.g., exposure to environmental estrogens). Turner syndrome results when the
second X chromosome is missing or damaged; these individuals possess
dysgenic ovaries and are not exposed to steroid hormones until puberty.
Interestingly, women with Turner syndrome often have impaired spatial
memory.
Female mammals are considered the neutral sex; additional physiological
steps are required for male differentiation, and more steps bring more
possibilities for errors in differentiation. Some examples of male anomalous
sexual differentiation include 5-reductase deficiency (in which XY individuals
are born with ambiguous genitalia because of a lack of dihydrotestosterone
and are reared as females, but masculinization occurs during puberty) and
androgen insensitivity syndrome or TFM (in which XY individuals lack receptors
for androgens and develop as females). By studying individuals who do not
neatly fall into the dichotic boxes of female or male and for whom the process
of sexual differentiation is atypical, behavioral endocrinologists glean hints
about the process of typical sexual differentiation.
We may ultimately want to know how hormones mediate sex differences in
the human brain and behavior (to the extent to which these differences occur).
To understand the mechanisms underlying sex differences in the brain and
behavior, we return to the birdsong example. Birds provide the best evidence
that behavioral sex differences are the result of hormonally induced structural
changes in the brain (Goodson, Saldanha, Hahn, & Soma, 2005). In contrast to
mammals, in which structural differences in neural tissues have not been
directly linked to behavior, structural differences in avian brains have been
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directly linked to a sexually behavior: birdsong.

Several brain regions in songbirds display significant sex differences in size.
Two major brain circuit pathways, (1) the song production motor pathway and
(2) the auditory transmission pathway, have been implicated in the learning
and production of birdsong. Some parts of the song production pathway of
male zebra finches are 3 to 6 times larger than those of female conspecifics.
The larger size of these brain areas reflects that neurons in these nuclei are
larger, more numerous, and farther apart. Although castration of adult male
birds reduces singing, it does not reduce the size of the brain nuclei controlling
song production. Similarly, androgen treatment of adult female zebra finches
does not induce changes either in singing or in the size of the song control
regions. Thus, activational effects of steroid hormones do not account for the
sex differences in singing behavior or brain nucleus size in zebra finches. The
sex differences in these structures are organized or programmed in the egg by
estradiol (masculinizes) or the lack of steroids (feminizes).
Taken together, estrogens appear to be necessary to activate the neural
machinery underlying the song system in birds. The testes of birds primarily
produce androgens, which enter the circulation. The androgens enter neurons
containing aromatase, which converts them to estrogens. Indeed, the brain is
the primary source of estrogens, which activate masculine behaviors in many
bird species.
Sex differences in human brain size have been reported for years. More
recently, sex differences in specific brain structures have been discovered
(Figure 2). Sex differences in a number of cognitive functions have also been
reported. Females are generally more sensitive to auditory information,
whereas males are more sensitive to visual information. Females are also
typically more sensitive than males to taste and olfactory input. Women display
less lateralization of cognitive functions than men. On average, females
generally excel in verbal, perceptual, and fine motor skills, whereas males
outperform females on quantitative and visuospatial tasks, including map
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reading and direction finding. Although reliable sex differences can be

documented, these differences in ability are slight. It is important to note that
there is more variation within each sex than between the sexes for most
cognitive abilities (Figure 3).
Figure 3. The Average Sex Differences in Human Performance Often Reflect Significant
Overlap Between the Sexes There are often greater differences in performance between
individuals of the same sex (for example, between Alice and Mary in the figure) than between
individuals of the opposite sex (for example, between John and Mary in the figure).
249
Aggressive Behaviors
The possibility for aggressive behavior exists whenever the interests of two or
more individuals are in conflict (Nelson, 2006). Conflicts are most likely to arise
over limited resources such as territories, food, and mates. A social interaction
decides which animal gains access to the contested resource. In many cases, a
submissive posture or gesture on the part of one animal avoids the necessity
of actual combat over a resource. Animals may also participate in threat displays
or ritualized combat in which dominance is determined but no physical damage
is inflicted.
There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that androgenic steroid
hormones mediate aggressive behavior across many species. First, seasonal
variations in blood plasma concentrations of testosterone and seasonal
variations in aggression coincide. For instance, the incidence of aggressive
behavior peaks for male deer in autumn, when they are secreting high levels
of testosterone. Second, aggressive behaviors increase at the time of puberty,
when the testes become active and blood concentrations of androgens rise.
Juvenile deer do not participate in the fighting during the mating season. Third,
in any given species, males are generally more aggressive than females. This is
certainly true of deer; relative to stags, female deer rarely display aggressive
behavior, and their rare aggressive acts are qualitatively different from the
aggressive behavior of aggressive males. Finally, castration typically reduces
aggression in males, and testosterone replacement therapy restores aggression
to pre-castration levels. There are some interesting exceptions to these general
observations that are outside the scope of this chapter.
As mentioned, males are generally more aggressive than females. Certainly,
human males are much more aggressive than females. Many more men than
women are convicted of violent crimes in North America. The sex differences
in human aggressiveness appear very early. At every age throughout the school
years, many more boys than girls initiate physical assaults. Almost everyone
250
will acknowledge the existence of this sex difference, but assigning a cause to
behavioral sex differences in humans always elicits much debate. It is possible
that boys are more aggressive than girls because androgens promote
aggressive behavior and boys have higher blood concentrations of androgens
than girls. It is possible that boys and girls differ in their aggressiveness because
the brains of boys are exposed to androgens prenatally and the wiring of their
brains is thus organized in a way that facilitates the expression of aggression.
It is also possible that boys are encouraged and girls are discouraged by family,
peers, or others from acting in an aggressive manner. These three hypotheses
are not mutually exclusive, but it is extremely difficult to discriminate among
them to account for sex differences in human aggressiveness.
What kinds of studies would be necessary to assess these hypotheses? It is
usually difficult to separate out the influences of environment and physiology
on the development of behavior in humans. For example, boys and girls differ
in their rough-and-tumble play at a very young age, which suggests an early
physiological influence on aggression. However, parents interact with their male
and female offspring differently; they usually play more roughly with male
infants than with females, which suggests that the sex difference in
aggressiveness is partially learned. This difference in parental interaction style
is evident by the first week of life. Because of these complexities in the factors
influencing human behavior, the study of hormonal effects on sexdifferentiated behavior has been pursued in nonhuman animals, for which
environmental influences can be held relatively constant. Animal models for
which sexual differentiation occurs postnatally are often used so that this
process can be easily manipulated experimentally.
Again, with the appropriate animal model, we can address the questions
posed above: Is the sex difference in aggression due to higher adult blood
concentrations of androgens in males than in females, or are males more
aggressive than females because their brains are organized differently by
perinatal hormones? Are males usually more aggressive than females because
251
of an interaction of early and current blood androgen concentrations? If male

mice are castrated prior to their sixth day of life, then treated with testosterone
propionate in adulthood, they show low levels of aggression. Similarly, females
ovariectomized prior to their sixth day but given androgens in adulthood do
not express male-like levels of aggression. Treatment of perinatally
gonadectomized males or females with testosterone prior to their sixth day life
and also in adulthood results in a level of aggression similar to that observed
in typical male mice. Thus, in mice, the proclivity for males to act more
aggressively than females is organized perinatally by androgens but also
requires the presence of androgens after puberty in order to be fully expressed.
In other words, aggression in male mice is both organized and activated by
androgens. Testosterone exposure in adulthood without prior organization of
the brain by steroid hormones does not evoke typical male levels of aggression.
The hormonal control of aggressive behavior in house mice is thus similar to
the hormonal mediation of heterosexual male mating behavior in other rodent
species. Aggressive behavior is both organized and activated by androgens in
many species, including rats, hamsters, voles, dogs, and possibly some primate
species.
Parental Behaviors
Parental behavior can be considered to be any behavior that contributes
directly to the survival of fertilized eggs or offspring that have left the body of
the female. There are many patterns of mammalian parental care. The
developmental status of the newborn is an important factor driving the type
and quality of parental care in a species. Maternal care is much more common
than paternal care. The vast majority of research on the hormonal correlates
of mammalian parental behavior has been conducted on rats. Rats bear altricial
young, and mothers perform a cluster of stereotyped maternal behaviors,
including nest building, crouching over the pups to allow nursing and to provide
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warmth, pup retrieval, and increased aggression directed at intruders. If you

expose nonpregnant female rats (or males) to pups, their most common
reaction is to huddle far away from them. Rats avoid new things (neophobia).
However, if you expose adult rats to pups every day, they soon begin to behave
maternally. This process is called concaveation or sensitization and it appears
to serve to reduce the adult rats fear of pups.
Of course a new mother needs to act maternal as soon as her offspring
arrivenot in a week. The onset of maternal behavior in rats is mediated by
hormones. Several methods of study, such as hormone removal and
replacement therapy, have been used to determine the hormonal correlates of
rat maternal behavior. A fast decline of blood concentrations of progesterone
in late pregnancy after sustained high concentrations of this hormone, in
combination with high concentrations of estradiol and probably prolactin and
oxytocin, induces female rats to behave maternally almost immediately in the
presence of pups. This pattern of hormones at parturition overrides the usual
fear response of adult rats toward pups, and it permits the onset of maternal
behavior. Thus, the so-called maternal instinct requires hormones to increase
the approach tendency and lower the avoidance tendency. Laboratory strains
of mice and rats are usually docile, but mothers can be quite aggressive toward
animals that venture too close to their litter. Progesterone appears to be the
primary hormone that induces this maternal aggression in rodents, but species
differences exist. The role of maternal aggression in womens behavior has not
been adequately described or tested.
A series of elegant experiments by Alison Fleming and her collaborators
studied the endocrine correlates of the behavior of human mothers as well as
the endocrine correlates of maternal attitudes as expressed in self-report
questionnaires. Responses such as patting, cuddling, or kissing the baby were
called affectionate behaviors; talking, singing, or cooing to the baby were
considered vocal behaviors. Both affectionate and vocal behaviors were
considered approach behaviors. Basic caregiving activities, such as changing
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diapers and burping the infants, were also recorded. In these studies, no
relationship between hormone concentrations and maternal responsiveness,
as measured by attitude questionnaires, was found. For example, most women
showed an increasing positive self-image during early pregnancy that dipped
during the second half of pregnancy, but recovered after parturition. A related
dip in feelings of maternal engagement occurred during late pregnancy, but
rebounded substantially after birth in most women. However, when behavior,
rather than questionnaire responses, was compared with hormone
concentrations, a different story emerged. Blood plasma concentrations of
cortisol were positively associated with approach behaviors. In other words,
women who had high concentrations of blood cortisol, in samples obtained
immediately before or after nursing, engaged in more physically affectionate
behaviors and talked more often to their babies than mothers with low cortisol
concentrations. Additional analyses from this study revealed that the
correlation was even greater for mothers that had reported positive maternal
regard (feelings and attitudes) during gestation. Indeed, nearly half of the
variation in maternal behavior among women could be accounted for by cortisol
concentrations and positive maternal attitudes during pregnancy.
Presumably, cortisol does not induce maternal behaviors directly, but it may
act indirectly on the quality of maternal care by evoking an increase in the
mothers general level of arousal, thus increasing her responsiveness to infantgenerated cues. New mothers with high cortisol concentrations were also more
attracted to their infants odors, were superior in identifying their infants, and
generally found cues from infants highly appealing (Fleming, Steiner, & Corter,
1997).
The medial preoptic area is critical for the expression of rat maternal
behavior. The amygdala appears to tonically inhibit the expression of maternal
behavior. Adult rats are fearful of pups, a response that is apparently mediated
by chemosensory information. Lesions of the amygdala or afferent sensory
pathways from the vomeronasal organ to the amygdala disinhibit the
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expression of maternal behavior. Hormones or sensitization likely act to

disinhibit the amygdala, thus permitting the occurrence of maternal behavior.
Although correlations have been established, direct evidence of brain structural
changes in human mothers remains unspecified (Fleming & Gonzalez, 2009).
Considered together, there are many examples of hormones influencing
behavior and of behavior feeding back to influence hormone secretion. More
and more examples of hormonebehavior interactions are discovered,
including hormones in the mediation of food and fluid intake, social
interactions, salt balance, learning and memory, stress coping, as well as
psychopathology including depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders,
postpartum depression, and seasonal depression. Additional research should
reveal how these hormonebehavior interactions are mediated.
255
Outside Resources
Book: Adkins-Regan, E. (2005). Hormones and animal social behavior.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Book: Beach, F. A. (1948). Hormones and behavior. New York: Paul Hoeber.
Book: Beach, F. A. (1975). Behavioral endocrinology: An emerging discipline.

American Scientist, 63: 178187.
Book: Nelson, R. J. (2011). An introduction to behavioral endocrinology (4th

ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
Book: Pfaff, D. W. (2009). Hormones, brain, and behavior (2nd ed.). New York:
Academic Press.
Book: Pfaff, D. W., Phillips, I. M., & Rubin, R. T. (2005). Principles of hormone/
behavior relations. New York: Academic Press.
1. What are some of the problems associated with attempting to determine
causation in a hormonebehavior interaction? What are the best ways to
address these problems?
2. Hormones cause changes in the rates of cellular processes or in cellular

morphology. What are some ways that these hormonally induced cellular
changes might theoretically produce profound changes in behavior?
3. List and describe some behavioral sex differences that you have noticed
between boys and girls. What causes girls and boys to choose different toys?
Do you think that the sex differences you have noted arise from biological
causes or are learned? How would you go about establishing your opinions
as fact?
4. Why is it inappropriate to refer to androgens as male hormones and

estrogens as female hormones?
5. Imagine that you discovered that the brains of architects were different from
those of non-architectsspecifically, that the drawstraightem nuclei of the
right temporal lobe were enlarged in architects as compared with nonarchitects. Would you argue that architects were destined to be architects
because of their brain organization or that experience as an architect
changed their brains? How would you resolve this issue?
Vocabulary
5-reductase
An enzyme required to convert testosterone to 5-dihydrotestosterone.
Aggression
A form of social interaction that includes threat, attack, and fighting.
Aromatase
An enzyme that converts androgens into estrogens.
Chromosomal sex
The sex of an individual as determined by the sex chromosomes (typically XX
or XY) received at the time of fertilization.
Defeminization
The removal of the potential for female traits.
Demasculinization
The removal of the potential for male traits.
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
A primary androgen that is an androgenic steroid product of testosterone and
binds strongly to androgen receptors.
Endocrine gland
A ductless gland from which hormones are released into the blood system in
response to specific biological signals.
Estrogen
Any of the C18 class of steroid hormones, so named because of the estrusgenerating properties in females. Biologically important estrogens include
estradiol and estriol.
Feminization
The induction of female traits.
Gonadal sex
The sex of an individual as determined by the possession of either ovaries or
testes. Females have ovaries, whereas males have testes.
Hormone
An organic chemical messenger released from endocrine cells that travels
through the blood to interact with target cells at some distance to cause a
biological response.
Masculinization
The induction of male traits.
Maternal behavior
Parental behavior performed by the mother or other female.
Neurotransmitter
A chemical messenger that travels between neurons to provide communication.
Some neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, can leak into the blood
system and act as hormones.
Oxytocin
A peptide hormone secreted by the pituitary gland to trigger lactation, as well
as social bonding.
Parental behavior
Behaviors performed in relation to ones offspring that contributes directly to
the survival of those offspring
Paternal behavior
Parental behavior performed by the father or other male.
Progesterone
A primary progestin that is involved in pregnancy and mating behaviors.
Progestin
A class of C21 steroid hormones named for their progestational (pregnancysupporting) effects. Progesterone is a common progestin.
Prohormone
A molecule that can act as a hormone itself or be converted into another
hormone with different properties. For example, testosterone can serve as a
hormone or as a prohormone for either dihydrotestosterone or estradiol.
Prolactin
A protein hormone that is highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom. It
has many biological functions associated with reproduction and synergistic
actions with steroid hormones.
Receptor
A chemical structure on the cell surface or inside of a cell that has an affinity
for a specific chemical configuration of a hormone, neurotransmitter, or other
compound.
Sex determination
The point at which an individual begins to develop as either a male or a female.
In animals that have sex chromosomes, this occurs at fertilization. Females are
XX and males are XY. All eggs bear X chromosomes, whereas sperm can either
bear X or Y chromosomes. Thus, it is the males that determine the sex of the
offspring.
Sex differentiation
The process by which individuals develop the characteristics associated with
being male or female. Differential exposure to gonadal steroids during early
development causes sexual differentiation of several structures including the
brain.
Target cell
A cell that has receptors for a specific chemical messenger (hormone or
neurotransmitter).
Testosterone
The primary androgen secreted by the testes of most vertebrate animals,
including men.
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toys in nonhuman primates (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus). *Evolution
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Sex differences in childrens play. In J. B. Becker, K. J. Berkley, N. Geary, E.
Hampson, J. Herman, & E. Young (Eds.), Sex differences in the brain: From
genes to behavior. New York: Oxford University Press.
Dabbs, J. M. (2000). Heroes, rogues, and lovers: Testosterone and behavior.
Columbus, OH: McGraw Hill.
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responsiveness in human mothers. Hormones and Behavior, 32, 8598.
Fleming, A. S., & Gonzalez, A. (2009). Neurobiology of human maternal care. In
P. T. Ellison & P. B. Gray (Eds.), Endocrinology of social relationships (pp. 294
318). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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in behavioral neuroendocrinology: Insights from studies on birds.
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Kidd, K. A., Blanchfield, P. J., Mills, K. H., Palace, V. P., Evans, R. E. Lazorchak, J. M.
& Flick, R. (2007). Collapse of a fish population following exposure to a
synthetic estrogen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,104,
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of prenatally administered testosterone propionate on the tissues
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Hormones & Behavior by Randy J. Nelson is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Biochemistry of Love
Sue Carter & Stephen Porges
University of North Carolina
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Love is deeply biological. It pervades every aspect of our lives and has inspired
countless works of art. Love also has a profound effect on our mental and
physical state. A broken heart or a failed relationship can have disastrous
effects; bereavement disrupts human physiology and may even precipitate
death. Without loving relationships, humans fail to flourish, even if all of their
other basic needs are met. As such, love is clearly not just an emotion; it is a
biological process that is both dynamic and bidirectional in several dimensions.
Social interactions between individuals, for example, trigger cognitive and
physiological processes that influence emotional and mental states. In turn,
these changes influence future social interactions. Similarly, the maintenance
of loving relationships requires constant feedback through sensory and
cognitive systems; the body seeks love and responds constantly to interactions
with loved ones or to the absence of such interactions. The evolutionary
principles and ancient hormonal and neural systems that support the beneficial
and healing effects of loving relationships are described here.
Learning Objectives
Understand the role of Oxytocin in social behaviors.
Articulate the functional differences between Vasopressin and Oxytocin.
List sex differences in reaction to stress.
Introduction
Although evidence exists for the healing power of love, only recently has science
turned its attention to providing a physiological explanation for love. The study
of love in this context offers insight into many important topics, including the
biological basis of interpersonal relationships and why and how disruptions in
social bonds have such pervasive consequences for behavior and physiology.
Some of the answers will be found in our growing knowledge of the
neurobiological and endocrinological mechanisms of social behavior and
interpersonal engagement.
The evolution of social behavior

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. Theodosius
Dobzhanskys famous dictum also holds true for explaining the evolution of
love. Life on earth is fundamentally social: The ability to dynamically interact
with other living organisms to support mutual homeostasis, growth, and
reproduction evolved very early. Social interactions are present in primitive
invertebrates and even among prokaryotes: Bacteria recognize and approach
members of their own species. Bacteria also reproduce more successfully in
the presence of their own kind and are able to form communities with physical
and chemical characteristics that go far beyond the capabilities of the individual
cell (Ingham & Ben-Jacob, 2008).
As another example, various insect species have evolved particularly
complex social systems, known as eusociality. Characterized by a division of
labor, eusociality appears to have evolved independently at least 11 times in
insects. Research on honeybees indicates that a complex set of genes and their
interactions regulate eusociality, and that these resulted from an accelerated
form of evolution (Woodard et al., 2011). In other words, molecular
mechanisms favoring high levels of sociality seem to be on an evolutionary fast
nobaproject.com - Biochemistry of Love
268
track.
The evolutionary pathways that led from reptiles to mammals allowed the
emergence of the unique anatomical systems and biochemical mechanisms
that enable social engagement and selectively reciprocal sociality. Reptiles show
minimal parental investment in offspring and form nonselective relationships
between individuals. Pet owners may become emotionally attached to their
turtle or snake, but this relationship is not reciprocal. In contrast, most mammals
show intense parental investment in offspring and form lasting bonds with their
children. Many mammalian speciesincluding humans, wolves, and prairie
volesalso develop long-lasting, reciprocal, and selective relationships
between adults, with several features of what humans experience as love. In
turn, these reciprocal interactions trigger dynamic feedback mechanisms that
foster growth and health.
What is love? An evolutionary and physiological

perspective
Human love is more complex than simple feedback mechanisms. Love may
create its own reality. The biology of love originates in the primitive parts of
the brainthe emotional core of the human nervous systemwhich evolved
long before the cerebral cortex. The brain in love is flooded with vague
sensations, often transmitted by the vagus nerve, and creating much of what
we experience as emotion. The modern cortex struggles to interpret loves
primal messages, and weaves a narrative around incoming visceral experiences,
potentially reacting to that narrative rather than to reality. It also is helpful to
realize that mammalian social behavior is supported by biological components
that were repurposed or co-opted over the course of mammalian evolution,
eventually permitting lasting relationships between adults.
269
Is there a hormone of love and other relationships?

One element that repeatedly appears in the biochemistry of love is the
neuropeptide oxytocin. In large mammals, oxytocin adopts a central role in
reproduction by helping to expel the big-brained baby from the uterus, ejecting
milk and sealing a selective and lasting bond between mother and offspring
(Keverne, 2006). Mammalian offspring crucially depend on their mothers milk
for some time after birth. Human mothers also form a strong and lasting bond
with their newborns immediately after birth, in a time period that is essential
for the nourishment and survival of the baby. However, women who give birth
by cesarean section without going through labor, or who opt not to breastfeed,
are still able to form a strong emotional bond with their children. Furthermore,
fathers, grandparents, and adoptive parents also form lifelong attachments to
children. Preliminary evidence suggests that the simple presence of an infant
can release oxytocin in adults as well (Feldman, 2012; Kenkel et al., 2012). The
baby virtually forces us to love it.
The case for a major role for oxytocin in love is strong, but until recently was
based largely on extrapolation from research on parental behavior (Feldman,
2012) or social behaviors in animals (Carter, 1998; Kenkel et al., 2012). However,
recent human experiments have shown that intranasal delivery of oxytocin can
facilitate social behaviors, including eye contact and social cognition (MeyerLindenberg, Domes, Kirsch, & Heinrichs, 2011)behaviors that are at the heart
of love.
Of course, oxytocin is not the molecular equivalent of love. Rather, it is just
one important component of a complex neurochemical system that allows the
body to adapt to highly emotional situations. The systems necessary for
reciprocal social interactions involve extensive neural networks through the
brain and autonomic nervous system that are dynamic and constantly changing
across the life span of an individual. We also now know that the properties of
oxytocin are not predetermined or fixed. Oxytocins cellular receptors are
270
regulated by other hormones and epigenetic factors. These receptors change

and adapt based on life experiences. Both oxytocin and the experience of love
can change over time. In spite of limitations, new knowledge of the properties
of oxytocin has proven useful in explaining several enigmatic features of love.
Stress and love

Emotional bonds can form during periods of extreme duress, especially when
the survival of one individual depends on the presence and support of another.
There also is evidence that oxytocin is released in response to acutely stressful
experiences, perhaps serving as hormonal insurance against overwhelming
stress. Oxytocin may help to ensure that parents and others will engage with
and care for infants; develop stable, loving relationships; and seek out and
receive support from others in times of need.
Animal models and the biology of social bonds

To dissect the anatomy and chemistry of love, scientists needed a biological
equivalent of the Rosetta Stone. Just as the actual stone helped linguists
decipher an archaic language by comparison to a known one, animal models
are helping biologists draw parallels between ancient physiology and
contemporary behaviors. Studies of socially monogamous mammals that form
long-lasting social bonds, such as prairie voles, have been especially helpful to
an understanding the biology of human social behavior.
271
There is more to love than oxytocin

Research in prairie voles showed that, as in humans, oxytocin plays a major
role in social interactions and parental behavior (Carter, 1998; Carter, Boone,
Pournajafi-Nazarloo, & Bales, 2009; Kenkel et al., 2012). Of course, oxytocin
does not act alone. Its release and actions depend on many other
neurochemicals, including endogenous opioids and dopamine (Aragona &
Wang, 2009). Particularly important to social bonding are the interactions of
oxytocin with a related neuropeptide known as vasopressin. The systems
regulated by oxytocin and vasopressin are sometimes redundant. Both
peptides are implicated in behaviors that require social engagement by either
males or females, such as huddling over an infant (Kenkel et al., 2012). For
example, it was necessary in voles to block both oxytocin and vasopressin
receptors to induce a significant reduction in social engagement, either among
adults or between adults and infants. Blocking only one of these two receptors
did not eliminate social approach or contact. However, antagonists for either
the oxytocin or vasopressin receptor inhibited the selective sociality, which is
essential for the expression of a social bond (Bales, Kim, Lewis-Reese, & Carter,
2004; Cho, DeVries, Williams, & Carter, 1999). If we accept selective social bonds,
parenting, and mate protection as proxies for love in humans, research in
animals supports the hypothesis that oxytocin and vasopressin interact to allow
the dynamic behavioral states and behaviors necessary for love.
Oxytocin and vasopressin have shared functions, but they are not identical
in their actions. The specific behavioral roles of oxytocin and vasopressin are
especially difficult to untangle because they are components of an integrated
neural network with many points of intersection. Moreover, the genes that
regulate the production of oxytocin and vasopressin are located on the same
chromosome, possibly allowing coordinated synthesis or release of these
peptides. Both peptides can bind to and have antagonist or agonist effects on
each others receptors. Furthermore, the pathways necessary for reciprocal
272
social behavior are constantly adapting: These peptides and the systems that
they regulate are always in flux. In spite of these difficulties, some of the different
functions of oxytocin and vasopressin have been identified.
Functional differences between vasopressin and oxytocin

Vasopressin is associated with physical and emotional mobilization, and can
help support vigilance and behaviors needed for guarding a partner or territory
(Carter, 1998), as well as other forms of adaptive self-defense (Ferris, 2008).
Vasopressin also may protect against physiologically shutting down in the face
of danger. In many mammalian species, mothers exhibit agonistic behaviors in
defense of their young, possibly through the interactive actions of vasopressin
and oxytocin (Bosch & Neumann, 2012). Prior to mating, prairie voles are
generally social, even toward strangers. However, within a day or so of mating,
they begin to show high levels of aggression toward intruders (Carter, DeVries,
& Getz, 1995), possibly serving to protect or guard a mate, family, or territory.
This mating-induced aggression is especially obvious in males.
Oxytocin, in contrast, is associated with immobility without fear. This
includes relaxed physiological states and postures that permit birth, lactation,
and consensual sexual behavior. Although not essential for parenting, the
increase of oxytocin associated with birth and lactation may make it easier for
a woman to be less anxious around her newborn and to experience and express
loving feelings for her child (Carter & Altemus, 1997). In highly social species
such as prairie voles (Kenkel et al., 2013), and presumably in humans, the
intricate molecular dances of oxytocin and vasopressin fine-tune the
coexistence of caretaking and protective aggression.
273
Fatherhood also has a biological basis

The biology of fatherhood is less well-studied than motherhood is. However,
male care of offspring also appears to rely on both oxytocin and vasopressin
(Kenkel et al., 2012), probably acting in part through effects on the autonomic
nervous system (Kenkel et al., 2013). Even sexually nave male prairie voles show
spontaneous parental behavior in the presence of an infant (Carter et al., 1995).
However, the stimuli from infants or the nature of the social interactions that
release oxytocin and vasopressin may differ between the sexes (Feldman, 2012).
At the heart of the benefits of love is a sense of safety

Parental care and support in a safe environment are particularly important for
mental health in social mammals, including humans and prairie voles. Studies
of rodents and of lactating women suggest that oxytocin has the important
capacity to modulate the behavioral and autonomic distress that typically
follows separation from a mother, child, or partner, reducing defensive
behaviors and thereby supporting growth and health (Carter, 1998).
The absence of love in early life can be detrimental to

mental and physical health
During early life in particular, trauma or neglect may produce behaviors and
emotional states in humans that are socially pathological.
Because the
processes involved in creating social behaviors and social emotions are

delicately balanced, these be may be triggered in inappropriate contexts,
leading to aggression toward friends or family. Alternatively, bonds may be
formed with prospective partners who fail to provide social support or
protection.
274
Sex differences exist in the consequences of early life

experiences
Males seem to be especially vulnerable to the negative effects of early
experiences, possibly helping to explain the increased sensitivity of males to
various developmental disorders. The implications of sex differences in the
nervous system and in the response to stressful experiences for social behavior
are only slowly becoming apparent (Carter et al., 2009). Both males and females
produce vasopressin and oxytocin and are capable of responding to both
hormones. However, in brain regions that are involved in defensive aggression,
such as the extended amygdala and lateral septum, the production of
vasopressin is androgen-dependent. Thus, in the face of a threat, males may
be experiencing higher central levels of vasopressin.
Oxytocin and vasopressin pathways, including the peptides and their
receptors, are regulated by coordinated genetic, hormonal, and epigenetic
factors that influence the adaptive and behavioral functions of these peptides
across the animals life span. As a result, the endocrine and behavioral
consequences of a stress or challenge may be different for males and females
(DeVries, DeVries, Taymans, & Carter, 1996). For example, when unpaired prairie
voles were exposed to an intense but brief stressor, such as a few minutes of
swimming, or injection of the adrenal hormone corticosterone, the males (but
not females) quickly formed new pair bonds. These and other experiments
suggest that males and females have different coping strategies, and possibly
may experience both stressful experiences, and even love, in ways that are
gender-specific.
In the context of nature and evolution, sex differences in the nervous system
are important. However, sex differences in brain and behavior also may help
to explain gender differences in the vulnerability to mental and physical
disorders (Taylor, et al., 2000). Better understanding these differences will
provide clues to the physiology of human mental health in both sexes.
275
Loving relationships in early life can have epigenetic

consequences
Love is epigenetic. That is, positive experiences in early life can act upon and
alter the expression of specific genes. These changes in gene expression may
have behavioral consequences through simple biochemical changes, such as
adding a methyl group to a particular site within the genome (Zhang & Meaney,
2010). It is possible that these changes in the genome may even be passed to
the next generation.
Social behaviors, emotional attachment to others, and long-lasting
reciprocal relationships also are both plastic and adaptive, and so is the biology
upon which they are based. For example, infants of traumatized or highly
stressed parents might be chronically exposed to vasopressin, either through
their own increased production of the peptide, or through higher levels of
vasopressin in maternal milk. Such increased exposure could sensitize the
infant to defensive behaviors or create a lifelong tendency to overreact to threat.
Based on research in rats, it seems that in response to adverse early experiences
of chronic isolation, the genes for vasopressin receptors can become
upregulated (Zhang et al., 2012), leading to an increased sensitivity to acute
stressors or anxiety that may persist throughout life.
Epigenetic programming triggered by early life experiences is adaptive in
allowing neuroendocrine systems to project and plan for future behavioral
demands. But epigenetic changes that are long-lasting also can create atypical
social or emotional behaviors (Zhang & Meaney, 2010) that may be especially
likely to surface in later life, and in the face of social or emotional challenges.
Exposure to exogenous hormones in early life also may be epigenetic. For
example, prairie voles treated postnatally with vasopressin (especially males)
were later more aggressive, whereas those exposed to a vasopressin antagonist
showed less aggression in adulthood. Conversely, in voles the exposure of
infants to slightly increased levels of oxytocin during development increased
276
the tendency to show a pair bond. However, these studies also showed that a
single exposure to a higher level of oxytocin in early life could disrupt the later
capacity to pair bond (Carter et al., 2009).
There is little doubt that either early social experiences or the effects of
developmental exposure to these neuropeptides holds the potential to have
long-lasting effects on behavior. Both parental care and exposure to oxytocin
in early life can permanently modify hormonal systems, altering the capacity
to form relationships and influence the expression of love across the life span.
Our preliminary findings in voles further suggest that early life experiences
affect the methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene and its expression
(Connelly, Kenkel, Erickson, & Carter, 2011). Thus, we can plausibly argue that
love is epigenetic.
The absence of social behavior or isolation also has

consequences for the oxytocin system
Given the power of positive social experiences, it is not surprising that a lack of
social relationships also may lead to alterations in behavior as well as changes
in oxytocin and vasopressin pathways. We have found that social isolation
reduced the expression of the gene for the oxytocin receptor, and at the same
time increased the expression of genes for the vasopressin peptide. In female
prairie voles, isolation also was accompanied by an increase in blood levels of
oxytocin, possibly as a coping mechanism. However, over time, isolated prairie
voles of both sexes showed increases in measures of depression, anxiety, and
physiological arousal, and these changes were observed even when
endogenous oxytocin was elevated. Thus, even the hormonal insurance
provided by endogenous oxytocin in face of the chronic stress of isolation was
not sufficient to dampen the consequences of living alone. Predictably, when
isolated voles were given additional exogenous oxytocin, this treatment did
restore many of these functions to normal (Grippo, Trahanas, Zimmerman,
277
Porges, & Carter, 2009).

In modern societies, humans can survive, at least after childhood, with little
or no human contact. Communication technology, social media, electronic
parenting, and many other recent technological advances may reduce social
behaviors, placing both children and adults at risk for social isolation and
disorders of the autonomic nervous system, including deficits in their capacity
for social engagement and love (Porges, 2011).
Social engagement actually helps us to cope with stress. The same hormones
and areas of the brain that increase the capacity of the body to survive stress
also enable us to better adapt to an ever-changing social and physical
environment. Individuals with strong emotional support and relationships are
more resilient in the face of stressors than those who feel isolated or lonely.
Lesions in various bodily tissues, including the brain, heal more quickly in
animals that are living socially versus in isolation (Karelina & DeVries, 2011).
The protective effects of positive sociality seem to rely on the same cocktail of
hormones that carries a biological message of love throughout the body.
Can loveor perhaps oxytocinbe a medicine?

Although research has only begun to examine the physiological effects of these
peptides beyond social behavior, there is a wealth of new evidence showing
that oxytocin can influence physiological responses to stress and injury. As only
one example, the molecules associated with love have restorative properties,
including the ability to literally heal a broken heart. Oxytocin receptors are
expressed in the heart, and precursors for oxytocin appear to be critical for the
development of the fetal heart (Danalache, Gutkowska, Slusarz, Berezowska, &
Jankowski, 2010). Oxytocin exerts protective and restorative effects in part
through its capacity to convert undifferentiated stem cells into cardiomyocytes.
Oxytocin can facilitate adult neurogenesis and tissue repair, especially after a
stressful experience. We now know that oxytocin has direct anti-inflammatory
278
and antioxidant properties in in vitro models of atherosclerosis (Szeto et al.,

2008). The heart seems to rely on oxytocin as part of a normal process of
protection and self-healing.
Thus, oxytocin exposure early in life not only regulates our ability to love
and form social bonds, it also affects our health and well-being. Oxytocin
modulates the hypothalamicpituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, especially in
response to disruptions in homeostasis (Carter, 1998), and coordinates
demands on the immune system and energy balance. Long-term, secure
relationships provide emotional support and down-regulate reactivity of the
HPA axis, whereas intense stressors, including birth, trigger activation of the
HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system. The ability of oxytocin to regulate
these systems probably explains the exceptional capacity of most women to
cope with the challenges of childbirth and childrearing.
Dozens of ongoing clinical trials are currently attempting to examine the
therapeutic potential of oxytocin in disorders ranging from autism to heart
disease. Of course, as in hormonal studies in voles, the effects are likely to
depend on the history of the individual and the context, and to be dosedependent. As this research is emerging, a variety of individual differences and
apparent discrepancies in the effects of exogenous oxytocin are being reported.
Most of these studies do not include any information on the endogenous
hormones, or on the oxytocin or vasopressin receptors, which are likely to affect
the outcome of such treatments.
Conclusion
Research in this field is new and there is much left to understand. However, it
is already clear that both love and oxytocin are powerful. Of course, with power
comes responsibility. Although research into mechanisms through which love
or hormones such as oxytocinmay protect us against stress and disease is
in its infancy, this knowledge will ultimately increase our understanding of the
279
way that our emotions impact upon health and disease. The same molecules
that allow us to give and receive love also link our need for others with health
and well-being.
Acknowledgments
C. Sue Carter and Stephen W. Porges are both Professors of Psychiatry at the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and also are Research Professors of
Psychology at Northeastern University, Boston.
Discussions of love and forgiveness with members of the Fetzer Institutes
Advisory Committee on Natural Sciences led to this essay and are gratefully
acknowledged here. We are especially appreciative of thoughtful editorial input
from Dr. James Harris. Studies from the authors laboratories were sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health. We also express our gratitude for this
support and to our colleagues, whose input and hard work informed the ideas
expressed in this article. A version of this paper was previously published in
EMBO Reports in the series on Sex and Society; this paper is reproduced with
the permission of the publishers of that journal.
280
Outside Resources
Book: C. S. Carter, L. Ahnert et al. (Eds.), (2006). Attachment and bonding: A
new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Book: Porges, S.W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological

foundations of emotions, attachment, communication and self-regulation.
New York, NY: Norton.
Web: Database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human

participants conducted around the world.
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
Web: PubMed comprises over 22 million citations for biomedical literature
from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and
abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of
the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering.
PubMed also provides access to additional relevant web sites and links to
the other NCBI molecular biology resources.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Web: Website of author Stephen Porges
http://www.stephenporges.com/
1. If love is so important in human behavior, why is it so hard to describe and
understand?
2. Discuss the role of evolution in understanding what humans call love or
other forms of prosociality.
3. What are the common biological and neuroendocrine elements that appear
in maternal love and adult-adult relationships?
4. Oxytocin and vasopressin are biochemically similar. What are some of the
differences between the actions of oxytocin and vasopressin?
5. How may the properties of oxytocin and vasopressin help us understand
the biological bases of love?
6. What are common features of the biochemistry of love and safety, and
why are these important to human health?
Vocabulary
Epigenetics
Heritable changes in gene activity that are not caused by changes in the DNA
sequence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics
Oxytocin
A nine amino acid mammalian neuropeptide. Oxytocin is synthesized primarily
in the brain, but also in other tissues such as uterus, heart and thymus, with
local effects. Oxytocin is best known as a hormone of female reproduction due
to its capacity to cause uterine contractions and eject milk. Oxytocin has effects
on brain tissue, but also acts throughout the body in some cases as an
antioxidant or anti-inflammatory.
Vagus nerve
The 10th cranial nerve. The mammalian vagus has an older unmyelinated
branch which originates in the dorsal motor complex and a more recently
evolved, myelinated branch, with origins in the ventral vagal complex including
the nucleus ambiguous.
The vagus is the primary source of autonomic-
parasympathetic regulation for various internal organs, including the heart,

lungs and other parts of the viscera. The vagus nerve is primarily sensory
(afferent), transmitting abundant visceral input to the central nervous system.
Vasopressin
A nine amino acid mammalian neuropeptide. Vasopressin is synthesized
primarily in the brain, but also may be made in other tissues. Vasopressin is
best known for its effects on the cardiovascular system (increasing blood
pressure) and also the kidneys (causing water retention). Vasopressin has
effects on brain tissue, but also acts throughout the body.
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Evolutionary Theories in
Psychology
David M. Buss
University of Texas at Austin
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Evolutionchange over timeoccurs through the processes of natural and
sexual selection. Its primary products are adaptationssolutions to problems
of survival and reproduction. Sexual selection theory describes evolution due
to mating advantage rather than survival advantage and occurs through two
distinct pathways: intrasexual competition and intersexual selection. Gene
selection theory, the modern formulation of evolutionary biology, occurs
through differential gene replication. Evolutionary psychology synthesizes
evolutionary principles with modern psychology and focuses primarily on
psychological adaptationsinformation processing procedures inside the
head. Two major evolutionary psychological theories are described. Sexual
strategies theory describes the psychology of human mating strategies and the
ways in which women and men differ in those strategies. Error management
theory describes the evolution of cognitive biases in domains ranging from
perception to mating.
Learning Objectives
Learn what evolution means.
Define the primary mechanisms by which evolution takes place.
Identify the two major classes of adaptations.
Define sexual selection and its two primary processes.
Define gene selection theory.
Understand psychological adaptations.
Identify the core premises of sexual strategies theory.
Identify the core premises of error management theory, and provide two
empirical examples of adaptive cognitive biases.
Basics of Evolutionary Theory

Evolution simply means change over time. Many equate evolution with survival
selection, or nature red in tooth and claw. But survival is only important
inasmuch as it contributes to successful reproduction. Differential reproductive
success, not differential survival success, is the engine of evolution by natural
selection. You can survive a century. But if you fail to mate, you fail to reproduce,
and your genes die along with your body. Every mating success by one person
comes at a loss to rivals. Yet, we are all, every living human, evolutionary success
stories. Each of us descended from a long and unbroken line of ancestors who
triumphed over others in the currency of survival (at least long enough to mate)
and reproductive competition. As their descendants, we inherited the adaptive
mechanisms of a mind designed for success.
At the broadest level, we can think of organisms, including humans, as having
two large classes of adaptationsevolved solutions to problems that
historically contributed to reproductive success. One class is survival
adaptationsmechanisms that helped our ancestors to handle the hostile
forces of nature, such as food shortages, extremes of temperature, dangerous
predators, and parasites.
Thus, humans have evolved specialized food
preferences (for fat and sugar), sweat glands and shivering mechanisms, and
fears of snakes, spiders, darkness, heights, and strangers. These fears helped
our ancestors to avoid the hostile forces of nature. The second major class of
adaptations is composed of those that aided our ancestors in mate competition,
which brings us to a second evolutionary theory proposed by Charles Darwin
sexual selection theory.
nobaproject.com - Evolutionary Theories in Psychology
292
Sexual Selection Theory

Darwin noticed many phenomena that could not be explained by survival
selection. These included the brilliant plumage of peacocks, the large antlers
of male stags, the wattles of roosters, and other structures that seem to be
detrimental to survival. The peacocks plumage, for example, is like a neon sign
to predators advertising fast food! Darwins answer was the theory of sexual
selectionthe evolution of characteristics not because of survival advantage,
but rather because of mating advantage.
Sexual selection occurs through two processes. The first, intrasexual
competition occurs when members of one sex compete with each other, and
the winners gain mating access to the opposite sex. Male stags, for example,
battle with their antlers, and the winner (often stronger and with more
formidable antlers) gains mating access to the female. Human males sometimes
also compete with each other in physical contestsboxing, wrestling, karate,
or group-on-group contests such as football. Whatever qualities lead to success
in competition are passed on with greater frequency due to their association
with mating success.
The second process of sexual selection is preferential mate choice, also
called intersexual selection. In this process, if members of one sex prefer
certain qualities in mates, such as brilliant plumage, signs of good health, or
even intelligence, those desired qualities get passed on in greater numbers
simply because their possessors experience more mating success. The
luminous plumage of peacocks, for example, exists due to a long evolutionary
history of peahens preference for males with brilliantly colored feathers.
In all sexually reproducing species, adaptations in both sexes (males and
females) exist due to the process of survival selection and sexual selection.
Indeed, in humans we have mutual mate choice, which means that both
women and men do the selecting. And both genders value in long-term mates
qualities such as kindness, intelligence, and dependabilityqualities that make
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them good partners and good parents.
Gene Selection Theory

In modern evolutionary theory, due to the discovery of the gene (the unit of
inheritance) and its implications, all evolutionary processes boil down to
differential gene reproduction or replication. Genes that have effects that
increase their own replicative success relative to competing genes evolve, or
increase in frequency. Genes increase their own replicative success in two basic
ways. First, they can influence the bodies in which they reside to survive and
reproduce (individual reproductive success or fitness). Second, they can
influence the bodies in which they reside to help other bodies that are likely to
contain copies of themselvesgenetic relativesto survive and reproduce
(inclusive fitness). So the next time you wonder why parents tend to fund their
own childrens college education, and not that of the kids next door, altruistic
adaptations to help close kin may provide the most compelling answer.
Understanding differential gene replication is the key to understanding
modern evolutionary theory. It also has profound implications for many
evolutionary psychological theories. Nonetheless, for many purposes, we can
ignore genes and focus primarily on adaptations in individuals that evolved
because they helped our ancestors to survive or because they helped our
ancestors to reproduce.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology applies the lenses of modern evolutionary theory to
understanding the mechanisms of the human mind. It focuses primarily on
psychological adaptationsmechanisms of the mind that evolved to solve
specific problems of survival or reproduction. Most evolutionary psychologists
conceptualize psychological adaptations as information-processing devices:
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inputs, procedures, and outputs. To use a physiological example, a callusproducing adaptation would have input such as repeated friction to the skin;
procedures that dictate the growth of new skin cells to the afflicted area; and
actual calluses as output that function to protect the underlying structures
beneath the skin. A psychological example would be sexual jealousy. A jealousy
adaptation might contain inputs such as a romantic partner flirting with
someone else or a mate poacher flirting with ones partner; the procedures
would be decisions that include assessing the physical formidability of the rival
and gauging ones partners interest in the mate poacher; and the behavioral
output might range from vigilance (e.g., snooping through a partners email) to
violence (e.g., threatening the rival).
As these examples illustrate, evolutionary psychology is fundamentally an
interactionist framework. Neither calluses nor jealousy simply pop up without
the relevant environmental input. Indeed, adaptations are designed to deal with
environmental problems, be they physical (damage due to friction to the skin)
or social (mate poachers trying to lure your romantic partner).
Evolutionary psychology is interactionist in also including cultural input as
central to the activation or suppression of psychological adaptations. For
example, although status within the group is critical in all cultures to acquiring
reproductively relevant resources (including desirable mates), in individualistic
cultures such as the United States, status is heavily determined by individual
accomplishments. In more collectivist cultures, such as Japan, status is more
heavily determined by contributions to the group and the groups success. The
importance placed on virginity, to take another example, is a mate preference
highly susceptible to cultural input. Cultural norms of premarital sex influence
the degree to which men and women value virginity in potential marriage
partners. Evolutionary psychology, in short, does not predict rigid robotic-like
instincts, but rather flexible environmentally contingent and culturally
contingent adaptations.
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Hypothesized psychological adaptations are wide-ranging and include food

preferences (solutions to food selection problems), habitat preferences, mate
preferences, and specialized fears to the hostile forces of nature. They also
include many adaptations to group living, such as adaptations to cooperate and
form friendships, detect and avoid cheaters, aggress and inflict costs on rivals,
deal with status hierarchies, invest in children, and bestow altruistic acts on
genetic relatives. Research programs in evolutionary psychology formulate and
empirically test predictions from specific hypotheses about the nature and
design of psychological adaptations. Below, we highlight a few evolutionary
psychological theories and their relevant research programs.
Sexual Strategies Theory

Sexual strategies theory is based on sexual selection theory. It proposes that
humans have evolved a menu of mating strategies, both short term and long
term. Furthermore, which strategy an individual uses depends heavily on
culture, social context, parental influence, and personal mate value (desirability
on the mating market).
In its initial formulation, it focused on sex differences in human mate
preferences and corresponding strategies of mate competition (Buss & Schmitt,
1993). It starts with sex differences in parental investmentthe minimum
investment needed to produce a child. For women, the investment is large,
including internal fertilization and gestation and a nine-month pregnancy. For
men, the minimum investment to produce the same child is considerably
smaller, simply the act of sex.
These sex differences in parental investment have enormous consequences
for human sexual strategies. They suggest that the costs of making a poor
mating decision are large for women. They risk getting pregnant by a man who
will not invest in her and her children, and perhaps a man with poor-quality
genes. Conversely, the benefits of making wise mating decisions are large. For
296
men, however, because they need not invest much, the costs of making a poor
sexual decision are lower. This logic leads to a powerful set of empirical
predictions: In short-term mating, women should be choosier or more
discriminating than men; that men will, on average, be motivated to engage in
more low-investment sexual strategies; that men will sometimes deceive
women about their long-term intentions in order to have short-term sex; and
that men will lower their mating standards in short-term mating more than
women.
A tremendous body of empirical evidence supports these and related
predictions (Buss & Schmitt, 2011). Men express a desire for a larger number
of sex partners than do women. They let less time elapse before seeking sexual
intercourse. They are more willing to consent to sex with strangers and are less
likely to require emotional involvement in order to have sex. They have more
frequent sexual fantasies and fantasize about a larger variety of sex partners.
They are more likely to regret missed sexual opportunities. And, they lower their
standards in short-term mating, showing a willingness to mate with a larger
variety of women as long as the costs and risks are low.
In long-term mating, however, both sexes invest tremendously in both the
relationship and in resultant children. Consequently, the theory predicts that
both sexes should be extremely choosy when pursuing a long-term mating
strategy. Much empirical research supports this prediction. Many qualities on
which women and men choose long-term mates are highly similarboth want
mates who are intelligent, kind, understanding, healthy, dependable, honest,
loyal, loving, and adaptable.
Women and men differ in their preferences for a few key qualities in longterm mating because they have faced somewhat distinct adaptive problems.
Ancestral women faced the problem of securing a long-term mate willing and
able to invest resources in them and their children. Consequently, modern
women have inherited from their successful ancestral mothers a desire for
mates who possess resources, who have qualities linked with resource
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acquisition (e.g., ambition, drive, industriousness), and who are willing to

commit those resources to her. Men, in contrast, faced the problem of securing
a woman who was highly fertile, who could bear his offspring. Cues to youth
and cues to health are both cues to fertility, and these cues are heavily conveyed
by physical appearance. Consequently, worldwide, men more than women
place a greater premium on long-term mates who are physically attractive and
relatively young. These sex differences are universal in humans. They were first
documented in 37 different cultures, from Australia to Zambia (Buss, 1989), and
have been replicated by dozens of different researchers in dozens of additional
cultures (for summaries, see Buss, 2012).
Mating preferences and mating strategies are not invariably implemented
in actual behavior. People cant always get what they want. Those with a
superiormate value, highly desirable on the mating market, are better able to
implement their preferred mating strategies. Other contexts influencing mating
strategies include sex ratio (percentage of men to women in the mating pool),
cultural practices such as arranged marriage (which reduce individual freedom
of mating strategy), strategies pursued by others (e.g., if everyone else is
pursuing short-term mating, its difficult to implement a long-term mating
strategy),parasite prevalence (which increases the cultural importance placed
on physical appearance, since parasites degrade appearance), and many
others.
In sum, sexual strategies theory, anchored in sexual selection theory,
predicts a menu of mating strategies, sex differences in short-term mating and
some long-term mate preferences, sexual similarity on many mate preferences,
and psychological sensitivity to a host of personality, social, cultural, and
ecological contexts.
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Error Management Theory

Error management theory (EMT) is a theory about the evolution of cognitive
biases in the context of judgments and decisions under conditions of
uncertainty (Haselton & Buss, 2000; Haselton, Nettle, & Andrews, 2005).
Consider walking through the woods at dusk. You hear a rustle in the leaves on
the path in front of you. It could be a snake. Or, it could be just the wind blowing
the leaves. Its an uncertain situation. What are the costs of errors in judgment?
If you infer that its a dangerous snake and avoid it, the costs are minimal. You
simply make a short detour around. If you infer that it is safe when, in fact, there
is a dangerous snake, it could cost you your life. If these cost asymmetries
repeated themselves generation after generation over evolutionary time,
selection would fashion an adaptive bias to err in the direction of avoiding the
most costly error. More generally, EMT predicts that whenever there exists a
recurrent cost asymmetry of inference and judgment in the face of uncertainty,
selection will create cognitive biases that function to minimize costly errors.
EMT is a general evolutionary psychological theory in the sense that it can
be applied to many different domains of functioning. The snake example is one
in the domain of survival. Other well-documented EMT biases include the visual
descent illusionpeople overestimate the distance from the top of a mountain
looking down by 32% compared to being at the bottom of the mountain looking
up (Jackson & Cormack, 2008). Presumably, this visual bias causes people to be
especially wary of falling from great heights, which would produce injury and
death. Another is the auditory looming biaspeople overestimate how close
objects are when the sound is moving toward them compared with when it is
moving away from them. In the domain of survival problems, its better to be
safe than sorry, even if being safe means committing a larger number of
absolute errors. By doing so, people avoid the most costly errors.
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EMT has also been used to predict adaptive biases in the domain of mating.
Consider something as simple as a smile. Its an inherently ambiguous cue. It
may signal sexual or romantic interest. Or it may signal mere friendliness.
Because of the heavy costs to men of missing out on the rare chances for
reproduction, EMT predicts that men have a sexual overperception bias, causing
them to over-infer sexual interest by a woman based on minimal ambiguous
cues such as a smile or a touch. In the mating domain, the sexual overperception
bias is among the most robust empirically documented phenomena. Its been
documented in studies in which men and women rated the sexual interest of
people in photographs and videotaped interactions. And, its been documented
in the laboratory in actual social interactions using a speed dating paradigm
(Perilloux, Easton, & Buss, 2012). In short, EMT predicts that men, more than
women, will over-infer sexual interest based on minimal cues, and empirical
research confirms this adaptive mating bias.
Conclusion
Sexual strategies theory and error management theory are two evolutionary
psychological theories that have received much empirical support from dozens
of independent researchers. But, there are many other evolutionary
psychological theories, such as social exchange theory, dominance theory,
resource-holding potential theory, and environmental navigation theory. The
merits of each evolutionary psychological theory must be evaluated separately,
based on the degree to which empirical predictions rendered in advance are
supported by scientific studies. Some will be supported. Some will be rejected
based on evidence. And, many will require modification and increased
complexity in light of new scientific findings and new theoretical developments.
300
Outside Resources
FAQs
http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/human/evpsychfaq.html
Web: Articles and books on evolutionary psychology
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Group/BussLAB/
Web: Main international scientific organization for the study of evolution
and human behavior, HBES
http://www.hbes.com/
1. How does change take place over time in the living world?
2. Which two potential psychological adaptations to problems of survival are
not discussed in this chapter?
3. What are the psychological and behavioral implications of the fact that
women bear heavier costs to produce a child than men do?
4. Can you formulate a hypothesis about an error management bias in the
domain of social interaction?
Vocabulary
Adaptations
Evolved solutions to problems that historically contributed to reproductive
success.
Error management theory (EMT)

A theory of selection under conditions of uncertainty in which recurrent cost
asymmetries of judgment or inference favor the evolution of adaptive cognitive
biases that function to minimize the more costly errors.
In chapters, can "ordered list" formatting feature also be offered in alpha (a, b,
c)?
a
Evolution
Change over time. Is the definition changing?
Gene Selection Theory

The modern theory of evolution by selection by which differential gene
replication is the defining process of evolutionary change.
Intersexual selection
A process of sexual selection by which evolution (change) occurs as a
consequences of the mate preferences of one sex exerting selection pressure
on members of the opposite sex.
Intrasexual competition
A process of sexual selection by which members of one sex compete with each
other, and the victors gain preferential mating access to members of the
opposite sex.
Natural selection
Differential reproductive success as a consequence of differences in heritable
attributes.
Psychological adaptations
Mechanisms of the mind that evolved to solve specific problems of survival or
reproduction; conceptualized as information processing devices.
Sexual selection
The evolution of characteristics because of the mating advantage they give
organisms.
Sexual Strategies Theory
A comprehensive evolutionary theory of human mating that defines the menu
of mating strategies humans pursue (e.g., short-term casual sex, long-term
committed mating), the adaptive problems women and men face when
pursuing these strategies, and the evolved solutions to these mating problems.
Reference List
Buss, D. M. (2012). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind (4th
ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary
hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 12, 149.
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (2011). Evolutionary psychology and feminism. Sex
Roles, 64, 768787.
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary
perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204232.
Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Error management theory: A new
perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 78, 8191.
Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2005). The evolution of cognitive
bias. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 724
746). New York, NY: Wiley.
Jackson, R. E., & Cormack, J. K. (2008). Evolved navigation theory and the
environmental vertical illusion. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 299
304.
Perilloux, C., Easton, J. A., & Buss, D. M. (2012). The misperception of sexual
interest. Psychological Science, 23, 146151.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Evolutionary Theories in Psychology by David

M. Buss is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Epigenetics in Psychology:
Toward an Understanding of
the Dynamic Interaction
among Genes, Environment,
and the Brain
Ian Weaver
Dalhousie University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Early life experiences exert a profound and long-lasting influence on physical
and mental health throughout life. The efforts to identify the primary causes
of this have significantly benefited from studies of the epigenomea dynamic
layer of information associated with DNA that differs between individuals and
can be altered through various experiences and environments. The epigenome
has been heralded as a key missing piece of the etiological puzzle for
understanding how development of psychological disorders may be influenced
by the surrounding environment, in concordance with the genome.
Understanding the mechanisms involved in the initiation, maintenance, and
heritability of epigenetic states is thus an important aspect of research in current
biology, particularly in the study of learning and memory, emotion, and social
behavior in humans. Moreover, epigenetics in psychology provides a framework
for understanding how the expression of genes is influenced by experiences
and the environment to produce individual differences in behavior, cognition,
personality, and mental health. In this chapter, we survey recent developments
revealing epigenetic aspects of mental health and review some of the challenges
of epigenetic approaches in psychology to help explain how nurture shapes
nature.
Learning Objectives
Explain what the term epigenetics means and the molecular machinery
involved.
Name and discuss important neural and developmental pathways that are
regulated by epigenetic factors, and provide examples of epigenetic effects
on personality traits and cognitive behavior.
Understand how misregulation of epigenetic mechanisms can lead to

disease states, and be able to discuss examples.
Recognize how epigenetic machinery can be targets for therapeutic agents,

and discuss examples.
Introduction
Early childhood is not only a period of physical growth; it is also a time of mental
development related to changes in the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of
the nervous system that influence mental health throughout life. Cognitive
abilities associated with learning and memory, reasoning, problem solving, and
developing relationships continue to emerge during childhood. Brain
development is more rapid during this critical or sensitive period than at any
other, with more than 700 neural connections created each second. Herein,
complex geneenvironment interactions (or genotypeenvironment interactions,
GE) serve to increase the number of possible contacts between neurons, as
they hone their adult synaptic properties and excitability. Many weak
connections form to different neuronal targets; subsequently, they undergo
remodeling in which most connections vanish and a few stable connections
remain. These structural changes (or plasticity) may be crucial for the
development of mature neural networks that support emotional, cognitive, and
social behavior. The generation of different morphology, physiology, and
behavioral outcomes from a single genome in response to changes in the
environment forms the basis for phenotypic plasticity, which is fundamental
to the way organisms cope with environmental variation, navigate the present
world, and solve future problems.
The challenge for psychology has been to integrate findings from genetics
and environmental (social, biological, chemical) factors, including the quality of
infantmother attachments, into the study of personality and our
understanding of the emergence of mental illness. These studies have
demonstrated that common DNA sequence variation and rare mutations
account for only a small fraction (1%2%) of the total risk for inheritance of
personality traits and mental disorders (Dick, Riley, & Kendler, 2010; Gershon,
Alliey-Rodriguez, & Liu, 2011). Additionally, studies that have attempted to
examine the mechanisms and conditions under which DNA sequence variation
nobaproject.com - Epigenetics in Psychology: Toward an Understanding of the Dynamic Interaction among Genes, Environment, a
311
influences brain development and function have been confounded by complex

cause-and-effect relationships (Petronis, 2010). The large unaccounted
heritability of personality traits and mental health suggests that additional
molecular and cellular mechanisms are involved.
Epigenetics has the potential to provide answers to these important
questions and refers to the transmission of phenotype in terms of gene
expression in the absence of changes in DNA sequencehence the name epi(Greek: - over, above) genetics (Waddington, 1942; Wolffe & Matzke, 1999).
The advent of high-throughput techniques such as sequencing-based
approaches to study the distributions of regulators of gene expression
throughout the genome led to the collective description of the epigenome. In
contrast to the genome sequence, which is static and the same in almost all
cells, the epigenome is highly dynamic, differing among cell types, tissues, and
brain regions (Gregg et al., 2010). Recent studies have provided insights into
epigenetic regulation of developmental pathways in response to a range of
external environmental factors (Dolinoy, Weidman, & Jirtle, 2007). These
environmental factors during early childhood and adolescence can cause
changes in expression of genes conferring risk of mental health and chronic
physical conditions. Thus, the examination of geneticepigeneticenvironment
interactions from a developmental perspective may determine the nature of
gene misregulation in psychological disorders.
This chapter will provide an overview of the main components of the
epigenome and review themes in recent epigenetic research that have
relevance for psychology, to form the biological basis for the interplay between
environmental signals and the genome in the regulation of individual
differences in physiology, emotion, cognition, and behavior.
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Molecular control of gene expression: the dynamic

epigenome
Almost all the cells in our body are genetically identical, yet our body generates
many different cell types, organized into different tissues and organs, and
expresses different proteins. Within each type of mammalian cell, about 2
meters of genomic DNA is divided into nuclear chromosomes. Yet the nucleus
of a human cell, which contains the chromosomes, is only about 2 m in
diameter. To achieve this 1,000,000-fold compaction, DNA is wrapped around
a group of 8 proteins called histones. This combination of DNA and histone
proteins forms a special structure called a nucleosome, the basic unit of
chromatin, which represents a structural solution for maintaining and accessing
the tightly compacted genome. These factors alter the likelihood that a gene
will be expressed or silenced. Cellular functions such as gene expression, DNA
replication, and the generation of specific cell types are therefore influenced
by distinct patterns of chromatin structure, involving covalent modification of
both histones (Kadonaga, 1998) and DNA (Razin, 1998).
Importantly, epigenetic variation also emerges across the lifespan. For
example, although identical twins share a common genotype and are
genetically identical and epigenetically similar when they are young, as they age
they become more dissimilar in their epigenetic patterns and often display
behavioral, personality, or even physical differences, and have different risk
levels for serious illness. Thus, understanding the structure of the nucleosome
is key to understanding the precise and stable control of gene expression and
regulation, providing a molecular interface between genes and environmentally
induced changes in cellular activity.
313
The primary epigenetic mark: DNA modification

DNA methylation is the best-understood epigenetic modification influencing
gene expression. DNA is composed of four types of naturally occurring
nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). In
mammalian genomes, DNA methylation occurs primarily at cytosine residues
in the context of cytosines that are followed by guanines (CpG dinucleotides),
to form 5-methylcytosine in a cell-specific pattern (Goll & Bestor, 2005; Law &
Jacobsen, 2010; Suzuki & Bird, 2008). The enzymes that perform DNA
methylation are called DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), which catalyze the
transfer of a methyl group to the cytosine (Adams, McKay, Craig, & Burdon,
1979). These enzymes are all expressed in the central nervous system and are
dynamically regulated during development (Feng, Chang, Li, & Fan, 2005; Goto
et al., 1994). The effect of DNA methylation on gene function varies depending
on the period of development during which the methylation occurs and location
of the methylated cytosine. Methylation of DNA in gene regulatory regions
(promoter and enhancer regions) usually results in gene silencing and reduced
gene expression (Ooi, ODonnell, & Bestor, 2009; Suzuki & Bird, 2008; Sutter
and Doerfler, 1980; Vardimon et al., 1982). This is a powerful regulatory
mechanism that ensures that genes are expressed only when needed. Thus
DNA methylation may broadly impact human brain development, and agerelated misregulation of DNA methylation is associated with the molecular
pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Histone modification and the histone code

The modification of histone proteins comprises an important epigenetic mark
related to gene expression. One of the most thoroughly studied modifications
is histone acetylation, which is associated with gene activation and increased
gene expression (Wade, Pruss, & Wolffe, 1997). Acetylation on histone tails is
314
mediated by the opposing enzymatic activities of histone acetyltransferases

(HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) (Kuo & Allis, 1998). For example,
acetylation of histone in gene regulatory regions by HAT enzymes is generally
associated with DNA demethylation, gene activation, and increased gene
expression (Hong, Schroth, Matthews, Yau, & Bradbury, 1993; Sealy & Chalkley,
1978). On the other hand, removal of the acetyl group (deacetylation) by HDAC
enzymes is generally associated with DNA methylation, gene silencing, and
decreased gene expression (Davie & Chadee, 1998). The relationship between
patterns of histone modifications and gene activity provides evidence for the
existence of a histone code for determining cell-specific gene expression
programs (Jenuwein & Allis, 2001). Interestingly, recent research using animal
models has demonstrated that histone modifications and DNA methylation of
certain genes mediates the long-term behavioral effects of the level of care
experienced during infancy.
Early childhood experience

The development of an individual is an active process of adaptation that occurs
within a social and economic context. For example, the closeness or degree of
positive attachment of the parent (typically mother)infant bond and parental
investment (including nutrient supply provided by the parent) that define early
childhood experience also program the development of individual differences
in stress responses in the brain, which then affect memory, attention, and
emotion. In terms of evolution, this process provides the offspring with the
ability to physiologically adjust gene expression profiles contributing to the
organization and function of neural circuits and molecular pathways that
support (1) biological defensive systems for survival (e.g., stress resilience), (2)
reproductive success to promote establishment and persistence in the present
environment, and (3) adequate parenting in the next generation (Bradshaw,
1965).
315
Parental investment and programming of stress

responses in the offspring
The most comprehensive study to date of variations in parental investment and
epigenetic inheritance in mammals is that of the maternally transmitted
responses to stress in rats. In rat pups, maternal nurturing (licking and
grooming) during the first week of life is associated with long-term
programming of individual differences in stress responsiveness, emotionality,
cognitive performance, and reproductive behavior (Caldji et al., 1998; Francis,
Diorio, Liu, & Meaney, 1999; Liu et al., 1997; Myers, Brunelli, Shair, Squire, &
Hofer, 1989; Stern, 1997). In adulthood, the offspring of mothers that exhibit
increased levels of pup licking and grooming over the first week of life show
increased expression of the glucocorticoid receptor in the hippocampus (a brain
structure associated with stress responsivity as well as learning and memory)
and a lower hormonal response to stress compared with adult animals reared
by low licking and grooming mothers (Francis et al., 1999; Liu et al., 1997).
Moreover, rat pups that received low levels of maternal licking and grooming
during the first week of life showed decreased histone acetylation and increased
DNA methylation of a neuron-specific promoter of the glucocorticoid receptor
gene (Weaver et al., 2004). The expression of this gene is then reduced, the
number of glucocorticoid receptors in the brain is decreased, and the animals
show a higher hormonal response to stress throughout their life. The effects
of maternal care on stress hormone responses and behaviour in the offspring
can be eliminated in adulthood by pharmacological treatment (HDAC inhibitor
trichostatin A, TSA) or dietary amino acid supplementation (methyl donor Lmethionine), treatments that influence histone acetylation, DNA methylation,
and expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (Weaver et al., 2004; Weaver
et al., 2005). This series of experiments shows that histone acetylation and DNA
methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter is a necessary link
in the process leading to the long-term physiological and behavioral sequelae
316
of poor maternal care. This points to a possible molecular target for treatments
that may reverse or ameliorate the traces of childhood maltreatment.
Several studies have attempted to determine to what extent the findings
from model animals are transferable to humans. Examination of post-mortem
brain tissue from healthy human subjects found that the human equivalent of
the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter (NR3C1 exon 1F promoter) is also
unique to the individual (Turner, Pelascini, Macedo, & Muller, 2008). A similar
study examining newborns showed that methylation of the glucocorticoid
receptor gene promoter maybe an early epigenetic marker of maternal mood
and risk of increased hormonal responses to stress in infants 3 months of age
(Oberlander et al., 2008). Although further studies are required to examine the
functional consequence of this DNA methylation, these findings are consistent
with our studies in the neonate and adult offspring of low licking and grooming
mothers that show increased DNA methylation of the promoter of the
glucocorticoid receptor gene, decreased glucocorticoid receptor gene
expression, and increased hormonal responses to stress (Weaver et al., 2004).
Examination of brain tissue from suicide victims found that the human
glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter is also more methylated in the brains
of individuals who had experienced maltreatment during childhood (McGowan
et al., 2009). These finding suggests that DNA methylation mediates the effects
of early environment in both rodents and humans and points to the possibility
of new therapeutic approaches stemming from translational epigenetic
research. Indeed, similar processes at comparable epigenetic labile regions
could explain why the adult offspring of high and low licking/grooming mothers
exhibit widespread differences in hippocampal gene expression and cognitive
function (Weaver, Meaney, & Szyf, 2006).
However, this type of research is limited by the inaccessibility of human
brain samples. The translational potential of this finding would be greatly
enhanced if the relevant epigenetic modification can be measured in an
accessible tissue. Examination of blood samples from adult patients with
317
bipolar disorder, who also retrospectively reported on their experiences of

childhood abuse and neglect, found that the degree of DNA methylation of the
human glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter was strongly positively related
to the reported experience of childhood maltreatment decades earlier. For a
relationship between a molecular measure and reported historical exposure,
the effects size is extraordinarily large. This opens a range of new possibilities:
given the large effect size and consistency of this association, measurement of
the GR promoter methylation may effectively become a blood test measuring
the physiological traces left on the genome by early experiences. Although this
blood test cannot replace current methods of diagnosis, this unique and
addition information adds to our knowledge of how disease may arise and be
manifested throughout life. Near-future research will examine whether this
measure adds value over and above simple reporting of early adversities when
it comes to predicting important outcomes, such as response to treatment or
suicide.
Child nutrition and the epigenome

The old adage you are what you eat might be true on more than just a physical
level: The food you choose (and even what your parents and grandparents
chose) is reflected in your own personal development and risk for disease in
adult life (Wells, 2003). Nutrients can reverse or change DNA methylation and
histone modifications, thereby modifying the expression of critical genes
associated with physiologic and pathologic processes, including embryonic
development, aging, and carcinogenesis. It appears that nutrients can influence
the epigenome either by directly inhibiting enzymes that catalyze DNA
methylation or histone modifications, or by altering the availability of substrates
necessary for those enzymatic reactions. For example, rat mothers fed a diet
low in methyl group donors during pregnancy produce offspring with reduced
DNMT-1 expression, decreased DNA methylation, and increased histone
318
acetylation at promoter regions of specific genes, including the glucocorticoid

receptor, and increased gene expression in the liver of juvenile offspring
(Lillycrop, Phillips, Jackson, Hanson, & Burdge, 2005) and adult offspring
(Lillycrop et al., 2007). These data suggest that early life nutrition has the
potential to influence epigenetic programming in the brain not only during early
development but also in adult life, thereby modulating health throughout life.
In this regard, nutritional epigenetics has been viewed as an attractive tool to
prevent pediatric developmental diseases and cancer, as well as to delay agingassociated processes.
The best evidence relating to the impact of adverse environmental
conditions development and health comes from studies of the children of
women who were pregnant during two civilian famines of World War II: the
Siege of Leningrad (194144) (Bateson, 2001) and the Dutch Hunger Winter
(19441945) (Stanner et al., 1997). In the Netherlands famine, women who were
previously well nourished were subjected to low caloric intake and associated
environmental stressors. Women who endured the famine in the late stages of
pregnancy gave birth to smaller babies (Lumey & Stein, 1997) and these children
had an increased risk of insulin resistance later in life (Painter, Roseboom, &
Bleker, 2005). In addition, offspring who were starved prenatally later
experienced impaired glucose tolerance in adulthood, even when food was
more abundant (Stanner et al., 1997). Famine exposure at various stages of
gestation was associated with a wide range of risks such as increased obesity,
higher rates of coronary heart disease, and lower birth weight (Lumey & Stein,
1997). Interestingly, when examined 60 years later, people exposed to famine
prenatally showed reduced DNA methylation compared with their unexposed
same-sex siblings (Heijmans et al., 2008).
319
Epigenetic regulation of learning and memory

Memories are recollections of actual events stored within our brains. But how
is our brain able to form and store these memories? Epigenetic mechanisms
influence genomic activities in the brain to produce long-term changes in
synaptic signaling, organization, and morphology, which in turn support
learning and memory (Day & Sweatt, 2011).
Neuronal activity in the hippocampus of mice is associated with changes in
DNA methylation (Guo et al., 2011), and disruption to genes encoding the DNA
methylation machinery cause learning and memory impairments (Feng et al.,
2010). DNA methylation has also been implicated in the maintenance of longterm memories, as pharmacological inhibition of DNA methylation and
impaired memory (Day & Sweatt, 2011; Miller et al., 2010). These findings
indicate the importance of DNA methylation in mediating synaptic plasticity
and cognitive functions, both of which are disturbed in psychological illness.
Changes in histone modifications can also influence long-term memory
formation by altering chromatin accessibility and the expression of genes
relevant to learning and memory. Memory formation and the associated
enhancements in synaptic transmission are accompanied by increases in
histone acetylation (Guan et al., 2002) and alterations in histone methylation
(Schaefer et al., 2009), which promote gene expression. Conversely, a neuronal
increase in histone deacetylase activity, which promotes gene silencing, results
in reduced synaptic plasticity and impairs memory (Guan et al., 2009).
Pharmacological inhibition of histone deacetylases augments memory
formation (Guan et al., 2009; Levenson et al., 2004), further suggesting that
histone (de)acetylation regulates this process.
In humans genetic defects in genes encoding the DNA methylation and
chromatin machinery exhibit profound effects on cognitive function and mental
health (Jiang, Bressler, & Beaudet, 2004). The two best-characterized examples
are Rett syndrome (Amir et al., 1999) and Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS)
320
(Alarcon et al., 2004), which are profound intellectual disability disorders. Both
MECP2 and CBP are highly expressed in neurons and are involved in regulating
neural gene expression (Chen et al., 2003; Martinowich et al., 2003).
Rett syndrome patients have a mutation in their DNA sequence in a gene
called MECP2. MECP2 plays many important roles within the cell: One of these
roles is to read the DNA sequence, checking for DNA methylation, and to bind
to areas that contain methylation, thereby preventing the wrong proteins from
being present. Other roles for MECP2 include promoting the presence of
particular, necessary, proteins, ensuring that DNA is packaged properly within
the cell and assisting with the production of proteins. MECP2 function also
influences gene expression that supports dendritic and synaptic development
and hippocampus-dependent memory (Li, Zhong, Chau, Williams, & Chang,
2011; Skene et al., 2010). Mice with altered MECP2 expression exhibit genomewide increases in histone acetylation, neuron cell death, increased anxiety,
cognitive deficits, and social withdrawal (Shahbazian et al., 2002). These findings
support a model in which DNA methylation and MECP2 constitute a cell-specific
epigenetic mechanism for regulation of histone modification and gene
expression, which may be disrupted in Rett syndrome.
RTS patients have a mutation in their DNA sequence in a gene called CBP.
One of these roles of CBP is to bind to specific histones and promote histone
acetylation, thereby promoting gene expression. Consistent with this function,
RTS patients exhibit a genome-wide decrease in histone acetylation and
cognitive dysfunction in adulthood (Kalkhoven et al., 2003). The learning and
memory deficits are attributed to disrupted neural plasticity (Korzus, Rosenfeld,
& Mayford, 2004). Similar to RTS in humans, mice with a mutation of CBP
perform poorly in cognitive tasks and show decreased genome-wide histone
acetylation (for review, see Josselyn, 2005). In the mouse brain CBP was found
to act as an epigenetic switch to promote the birth of new neurons in the brain.
Interestingly, this epigenetic mechanism is disrupted in the fetal brains of mice
with a mutation of CBP, which, as pups, exhibit early behavioral deficits following
321
removal and separation from their mother (Wang et al., 2010). These findings
provide a novel mechanism whereby environmental cues, acting through
histone modifying enzymes, can regulate epigenetic status and thereby directly
promote neurogenesis, which regulates neurobehavioral development.
Together, these studies demonstrate that misregulation of epigenetic
modifications and their regulatory enzymes is capable of orchestrating
prominent deficits in neuronal plasticity and cognitive function. Knowledge
from these studies may provide greater insight into other mental disorders
such as depression and suicidal behaviors.
Epigenetic mechanisms in psychological disorders

Epigenome-wide studies have identified several dozen sites with DNA
methylation alterations in genes involved in brain development and
neurotransmitter pathways, which had previously been associated with mental
illness (Mill et al., 2008). These disorders are complex and typically start at a
young age and cause lifelong disability. Often, limited benefits from treatment
make these diseases some of the most burdensome disorders for individuals,
families, and society. It has become evident that the efforts to identify the
primary causes of complex psychiatric disorders may significantly benefit from
studies linking environmental effects with changes observed within the
individual cells.
Epigenetic events that alter chromatin structure to regulate programs of
gene expression have been associated with depression-related behavior and
action of antidepressant medications, with increasing evidence for similar
mechanisms occurring in post-mortem brains of depressed individuals. In mice,
social avoidance resulted in decreased expression of hippocampal genes
important in mediating depressive responses (Tsankova et al., 2006). Similarly,
chronic social defeat stress was found to decrease expression of genes
implicated in normal emotion processing (Lutter et al., 2008). Consistent with
322
these findings, levels of histone markers of increased gene expression were

down regulated in human post-mortem brain samples from individuals with a
history of clinical depression (Covington et al., 2009).
Administration of antidepressants increased histone markers of increased
gene expression and reversed the gene repression induced by defeat stress
(Lee, Wynder, Schmidt, McCafferty, & Shiekhattar, 2006; Tsankova et al., 2006;
Wilkinson et al., 2009). These results provide support for the use of HDAC
inhibitors against depression. Accordingly, several HDAC inhibitors have been
found to exert antidepressant effects by each modifying distinct cellular targets
(Cassel et al., 2006; Schroeder, Lin, Crusio, & Akbarian, 2007).
There is also increasing evidence that aberrant gene expression resulting
from altered epigenetic regulation is associated with the pathophysiology of
suicide (McGowan et al., 2008; Poulter et al., 2008). Thus, it is tempting to
speculate that there is an epigenetically determined reduced capacity for gene
expression, which is required for learning and memory, in the brains of suicide
victims.
Epigenetic strategy to understanding gene-environment

interactions
While the cellular and molecular mechanisms that influence on physical and
mental health have long been a central focus of neuroscience, only in recent
years has attention turned to the epigenetic mechanisms behind the dynamic
changes in gene expression responsible for normal cognitive function and
increased risk for mental illness. The links between early environment and
epigenetic modifications suggest a mechanism underlying gene-environment
interactions. Early environmental adversity alone is not a sufficient cause of
mental illness, because many individuals with a history of severe childhood
maltreatment or trauma remain healthy. It is increasingly becoming evident
that inherited differences in the segments of specific genes may moderate the
323
effects of adversity and determine who is sensitive and who is resilient through
a gene-environment interplay. Genes such as the glucocorticoid receptor
appear to moderate the effects of childhood adversity on mental illness.
Remarkably, epigenetic DNA modifications have been identified that may
underlie the long-lasting effects of environment on biological functions. This
new epigenetic research is pointing to a new strategy to understanding geneenvironment interactions.
The next decade of research will show if this potential can be exploited in
the development of new therapeutic options that may alter the traces that early
environment leaves on the genome. However, as discussed in this chapter, the
epigenome is not static and can be molded by developmental signals,
environmental perturbations, and disease states, which present an
experimental challenge in the search for epigenetic risk factors in psychological
disorders (Rakyan, Down, Balding, & Beck, 2011). The sample size and
epigenomic assay required is dependent on the number of tissues affected, as
well as the type and distribution of epigenetic modifications. The combination
of genetic association maps studies with epigenome-wide developmental
studies may help identify novel molecular mechanisms to explain features of
inheritance of personality traits and transform our understanding of the
biological basis of psychology. Importantly, these epigenetic studies may lead
to identification of novel therapeutic targets and enable the development of
improved strategies for early diagnosis, prevention, and better treatment of
psychological and behavioral disorders.
324
Outside Resources
Reference: The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project
http://encodeproject.org/ENCODE/
Reference: THREADS - A new way to explore the ENCODE Project
http://www.nature.com/encode/#/threads
Web: Explore, view, and download genome-wide maps of DNA and histone
modifications from the NCBI Epigenomics Portal
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/epigenomics
Web: NOVA ScienceNOW - Introduction to Epigenetics
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes
Web: The University of Utah's Genetic Science Learning Center
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/
1. Describe the physical state of the genome when genes are active and
inactive.
2. Often, the physical characteristics of genetically identical twins become
increasingly different as they age, even at the molecular level. Explain why
this is so (use the terms environment and epigenome).
3. Name 34 environmental factors that influence the epigenome and
describe their effects.
4. The rat nurturing example shows us how parental behavior can shape the
behavior of offspring on a biochemical level. Discuss how this relates to
humans and include the personal and social implications.
5. Explain how the food we eat affects gene expression.
6. Can the diets of parents affect their offsprings epigenome?
7. Why is converging evidence the best kind of evidence in the study of brain
function?
8. If you were interested in whether a particular brain area was involved in a
specific behavior, what neuroscience methods could you use?
9. If you were interested in the precise time in which a particular brain process
occurred, which neuroscience methods could you use?
Vocabulary
DNA methylation
Covalent modifications of mammalian DNA occurring via the methylation of
cytosine, typically in the context of the CpG dinucleotide.
DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs)
Enzymes that establish and maintain DNA methylation using methyl-group
donor compounds or cofactors. The main mammalian DNMTs are DNMT1,
which maintains methylation state across DNA replication, and DNMT3a and
DNMT3b, which perform de novo methylation.
Epigenetics
The study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused
by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic
marks include covalent DNA modifications and posttranslational histone
modifications.
Epigenome
The genome-wide distribution of epigenetic marks.
Gene
A specific deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence that codes for a specific
polypeptide or protein or an observable inherited trait.
Genome-wide association study (GWAS)
A study that maps DNA polymorphisms in affected individuals and controls
matched for age, sex, and ethnic background with the aim of identifying causal
genetic variants.
Genotype
The DNA content of a cells nucleus, whether a trait is externally observable or
not.
Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs)

HATs are enzymes that transfer acetyl groups to specific positions on histone
tails, promoting an open chromatin state and transcriptional activation.
HDACs remove these acetyl groups, resulting in a closed chromatin state and
transcriptional repression.
Histone modifications
Posttranslational modifications of the N-terminal tails of histone proteins that
serve as a major mode of epigenetic regulation. These modifications include
acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, sumoylation, ubiquitination, and
ADP-ribosylation.
Identical twins
Two individual organisms that originated from the same zygote and therefore
are genetically identical or very similar. The epigenetic profiling of identical twins
discordant for disease is a unique experimental design as it eliminates the DNA
sequence-, age-, and sex-differences from consideration.
Phenotype
The pattern of expression of the genotype or the magnitude or extent to which
it is observably expressedan observable characteristic or trait of an organism,
such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties,
or behavior.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Epigenetics in Psychology: Toward an

Understanding of the Dynamic Interaction among Genes, Environment, and the Brain by Ian
Weaver is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
The Nature-Nurture
Question
Eric Turkheimer
University of Virginia
nobaproject.com
Abstract
People have a deep intuition about what has been called the naturenurture
question. Some aspects of our behavior feel as though they originate in our
genetic makeup, while others feel like the result of our upbringing or our own
hard work. The scientific field of behavior genetics attempts to study these
differences empirically, either by examining similarities among family members
with different degrees of genetic relatedness, or, more recently, by studying
differences in the DNA of people with different behavioral traits. The scientific
methods that have been developed are ingenious, but often inconclusive. Many
of the difficulties encountered in the empirical science of behavior genetics turn
out to be conceptual, and our intuitions about nature and nurture get more
complicated the harder we think about them. In the end, it is an
oversimplification to ask how genetic some particular behavior is. Genes and
environments always combine to produce behavior, and the real science is in
the discovery of how they combine for a given behavior.
Learning Objectives
Understand what the naturenurture debate is and why the problem

fascinates us.
Understand why naturenurture questions are difficult to study empirically.
Know the major research designs that can be used to study naturenurture
questions.
Appreciate the complexities of naturenurture and why questions that seem

simple turn out not to have simple answers.
Introduction
Three related problems at the borderline of philosophy and empirical science
are fundamental to humans understanding of our relationship to the natural
world: the mindbody problem, the free will problem, and the naturenurture
problem. These great questions have much in common. Everyone, even without
reference to science or formal philosophy, can generate intuitions about them
via introspection and casual observation of the world. Yet, our intuitions about
our relationship with the physical and biological world often feel incomplete
and half-seen. We are in control of our actions in some ways, yet bound to our
bodies in others; it seems obvious that our consciousness is some kind of
property of our physical brains, still it often feels as though our awareness floats
free of raw physicality. This peculiar combination of easy, but incomplete access
to our relationship with nature leaves us fascinated and a little obsessed, like
a cat that climbs into a paper bag and then out again, over and over, mystified
every time by a relationship between inner and outer that it can glimpse but
cant quite grasp.
That some characteristics are inborn while others are acquired is a
fundamental and profound human intuition, and it is worth crediting its
importance and validity before we begin to pick it apart. Of the three great
questions about humans relationships with the natural world, only nature
nurture is sometimes called a debate. In the history of psychology, no other
question has generated so much disagreement and moral indignation: The
most fundamental reason we are so fascinated with naturenurture is that our
most important moral judgments seem to depend on it. We may admire the
athletic skills of a great basketball player, but his height is simply a gift, a payoff
in the genetic lottery in which we have all been involuntarily entered. For the
same reason no one would condemn a short person, much less someone with
a real congenital disability: It is, to state the obvious, not their fault. But we do
credit the concert oboist for her skills, and perhaps her parents and community
nobaproject.com - The Nature-Nurture Question
346
as well; we condemn cheaters, slackers, and the violent.

It only adds to our fascination that most interesting human characteristics
arent actually like height or oboe-playing, with our naturenurture intuitions
skewed strongly one way or the other. Even the great oboist, we might think,
might have some inborn qualityperfect pitch, or long nimble fingersthat
support and reward her hard work. When we think about ourselves and our
ordinary human qualities, they seem under our control in some respects, yet
beyond our control in others. Moreover, many of the traits we wonder about
are of much greater personal consequence than our height or musicality. What
about how much we drink or worry? What about our honesty, our religiosity,
or sexual orientation? They all have that same difficult quality, neither fixed by
nature nor totally under our own control.
Another reason we are so fascinated with naturenurture is that there are
difficult obstacles in the way of studying it empirically in humans. In nonhuman
animals, experimental methods are available that make finding answers to
naturenurture questions relatively straightforward. Suppose you are
interested in aggressiveness in dogs. You could mate a pair of aggressive dogs
and a pair of nonaggressive ones, split their litters in half, and switch half of
each litter. You now have puppies born to aggressive and nonaggressive dogs,
half of them raised by their own parents, the other half raised by the parents
of the opposite type to whom they are not biologically related. Which is a more
important determinant of aggression in the puppies: being born to aggressive
dogs or being raised by them, and how do the two factors combine? Much of
the best and most enduring naturenurture research has been done in this way
(Scott & Fuller, 1998), and animal breeders have been doing it successfully for
millennia. It is possible, even easy, to breed animals for behavioral traits. In
people, however, it is not possible to assign babies to parents at random, or to
select parents with certain behavioral characteristics for reproduction.
(Although history includes horrific examples of such practices, as part of
misconceived attempts at eugenics, the shaping of human characteristics
347
through intentional breeding.) In typical human families, the childrens

biological parents also raise them, and as a result, it is very difficult to know
whether children resemble their parents for genetic or environmental reasons.
The next reason for our fascination with naturenurture is the converse of
the previous one: Although there are difficult obstacles in the way of scientific
analysis of human families, there are also clever methods that provide partial
solutions. The empirical science of how genes and environments work together
to generate behavior is called behavioral genetics. The easiest of these
methods to understand is the adoption study. When children are put up for
adoption, the parents who give birth to them are no longer the same as the
parents who raise them. It isnt quite the same as the experiments with dogs
children cant be assigned to adoptive parents at random, or in order to suit
some particular interests of a scientist, but adoption still tells us something
interesting. If the biological children of tall parents were adopted into a family
of short people, what do you think would happen? What about the biological
children of a Spanish-speaking family adopted at birth into an English-speaking
family? Would this tell you something about the difference between height and
language?
Another path around the scientific difficulties of typical human families
involves twin studies.
There are two kinds of twin pairs: Identical, or
monozygotic (MZ), twins result from a single zygote and have the same DNA.
They are essentially clones. Fraternal, or dizygotic (DZ), twins develop from two
zygotes. Fraternal twins are ordinary siblings who happen to have been born
at the same time. They share 50% of their DNA. To analyze naturenurture using
twins, we compare the similarity of MZ and DZ pairs. Identical twins,
unsurprisingly, are almost perfectly similar for height. The heights of fraternal
twins are like any other sibling pairs: more similar to each other than to people
from other families, but hardly identical. This difference in similarity tells us
something about the role genetics plays in the determination of height. Now
consider speaking Spanish. If one identical twin speaks Spanish at home, the
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co-twin with whom she is raised almost certainly does too. But in this case, the
same would be true for a pair of fraternal twins raised together. For languagespeaking, fraternal twins are just as similar as identical twins, so it appears that
the additional genetic similarity of identical twins isnt making much difference.
Twin and adoption designs have much in common; in fact, they are two
instances of a much broader class of methods in which similarity among
individuals is analyzed in terms of how biologically related they are, a scientific
discipline called quantitative genetics. We can do these studies with siblings
and half-siblings, cousins, or with twins who have been separated at birth and
raised separately (Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, & Segal, 1990; such twins are very
rare and play a smaller role than is commonly believed in the science of nature
nurture), or with entire pedigrees of extended families (see Plomin, DeFries,
Knopik, & Neiderhiser, 2012, for a complete introduction to research methods
relevant to naturenurture).
For better or for worse, our thinking about naturenurture has been
intensified because the methods of quantitative genetics produce a number,
called a heritability coefficient, varying from 0 to 1, that appears to provide a
single measure of the role of genetics in a trait. In a general way, a heritability
coefficient measures how strongly differences among individuals for a trait are
related to differences among their genes. But beware: The previous sentences
are qualified with appears to and in a general way because heritability
coefficients, although simple to compute, are deceptively difficult to interpret.
Nevertheless, numbers that seem to provide simple answers to complicated
questions have a strong draw on the human mind, and a great deal of time has
been spent discussing whether the heritability of intelligence or personality or
depression is equal to this number or that.
The final reason naturenurture has continued to fascinate us is that we live
in an era of great scientific discovery in genetics, the equal, certainly, of the time
of Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton with regard to astronomy and physics. When
Francis Galton first started thinking about naturenurture in the late-19th
349
century he was very influenced by his cousin, Charles Darwin, but genetics per
se was unknown. Mendels famous work with peas, conducted at about the
same time, went undiscovered for 20 years; quantitative genetics was
developed in the 1920s; DNA discovered by Watson and Crick in the 1950s; the
human genome was completely sequenced at the turn of the 21st century; and
we are now on the cusp of a time when it will be possible to obtain the DNA
sequence of anyone at relatively low cost. No one knows what this new genetic
knowledge will mean for the study of naturenurture, but as we will see in the
next section, answers to naturenurture questions have turned out to be far
more difficult and mysterious than anyone imagined.
What Have We Learned About NatureNurture?

It would be satisfying to report that the proliferation of scientific naturenurture
studies has produced a finely articulated set of results, with some traits turning
out to be under strong genetic control, leading to clear genetic explanations of
their development, while others turned out to be relatively independent of
genes, in the domain of parental childrearing practices and the force of our
personal will; but that is not what has occurred. Instead, everything has turned
out to be related to genetics, in this sense: The more genetically related people
are, the more similar they are, and for everythingheight, weight, intelligence,
personality, mental illness. Adopted children resemble their biological parents
even if they have never met them; identical twins are more similar than fraternal
twins. This finding is true, it is important to emphasize, not only for the classical
psychological traits such as personality and psychiatric categories such as
schizophrenia: It is also true for political attitudes, how much television people
watch (Plomin, Corley, DeFries, & Fulker, 1990), and whether or not they are
divorced (McGue & Lykken, 1992).
350
People have grown accustomed to the idea of genetic influence on

behavioral characteristics, and it may be difficult to imagine how shocking it
was when these discoveries were first made. In the middle of the 20th century,
psychology was dominated by the doctrine of behaviorism, which held that the
behavior of organisms could be explained only in terms of environmental
contingencies, without reference to internal states. Psychiatry was dominated
by psychoanalysis, which sought explanations of behavior in the early lifehistories of individuals. In fact, neither behaviorism nor psychoanalysis is
incompatible with genetic influences on behavior, and neither Freud nor
Skinner was naive about the importance of organic processes in the genesis of
behavior. Nevertheless, it was widely thought at the time that childrens
personality was shaped by modeling the observed behavior of their parents
and that schizophrenia was caused by certain kinds of pathological mothering.
Whatever the outcome of our broader discussion of naturenurture, the simple
compelling fact that the best predictors of an adopted childs personality or
mental health are to be found in the biological parents he or she has never
seen, rather than in the adoptive parents who raised him or her, presents a
significant challenge to purely environmental explanations of personality or
psychopathology. To this extent the outcome of naturenurture has been clear:
You cant leave out genes. Of course, no human behavioral traits are perfectly
heritable, so the converse is also true: You cant leave out the environment.
In what follows, we will hear a great deal about the complexities of sorting
nature and nurture as influences on human behavior, so at the outset we should
emphasize one very concrete consequence of behavioral genetics that has
changed the scientific study of psychology for good. However complicated
relations among genes, environments, and behavior may turn out to be, it is
never possible to interpret an association between the behaviors of biologically
related individuals as causal and environmental in origin without further
evidence. This may seem obvious, but it is always very tempting to observe that
mothers who read more to their children have children with better reading
351
scores in the third grade and to conclude that reading out loud is important to
success in school. It may well be, but the study as described is inconclusive,
because there are genetic as well as environmental pathways between the
parenting practices of mothers and the abilities of children. To establish that
reading aloud causes success, a scientist can either study the problem in
adoptive families in which the genetic pathway is absent or by finding a way to
assign children at random to oral reading conditions.
In many other ways, however, the outcomes of naturenurture studies have
been less decisive. The most disappointing outcome has been that the sorting
of traits from more to less genetic hasnt worked out. In fact, everything has
turned out to be at least moderately heritable, and nothing has turned out to
be perfectly so, without much consistency as to which traits are more heritable
and which are less, once other considerations (such as how accurately the trait
can be measured) are taken into account (Turkheimer, 2000). The problem is
conceptual. The heritability coefficient, and, in fact, the whole quantitative
genetic apparatus that underlies it, does not do what our naturenurture
intuitions want it to do. We want to be informed about how important genes
and environment are to the development of a trait, but that turns out to be a
poorly specified question. First of all, both genes and environment are
absolutely important to every trait: No genes can develop in a vacuum, and
without genes the environment has nothing to work on. Even more important,
because naturenurture questions are always about differences among people,
the answer we obtain for a given trait depends not only on the trait itself, but
also on how and how much people differ on the trait in the population being
studied.
The classic example is the trait of having two arms. No one would doubt that
the development of arms is a profoundly biological and genetic process. But
fraternal twins are just as similar for two-armedness (that is to say, nearly
perfectly similar) as identical twins, and as a result the heritability of having two
arms is essentially zero. This result is not a tip-off that arm development is less
352
genetic than we had imagined, rather it occurs because people do not vary in
the genes related to arm development. To the extent people do differ in arm
number, it is likely the result of accidents and, therefore, environmental. For
this reason, we always have to be very careful when asking naturenurture
questions and especially when we try to express the answer in terms of a single
number. The heritability of a trait is not a property of that trait, it is a property
of the trait in a particular context in which relevant genes and environments
vary in some ways but not in others.
Another difficulty with the heritability coefficient as an outcome of nature
nurture studies is that it presumes that it is meaningful to divide up differences
in a trait into two portions, genes and environment, which can be added
together to obtain the total variability. Conceptually, this is a little like asking
how much of the experience of a symphony is attributable to the horns and
how much to the stringsthe ways in which instruments or genes combine is
more complicated than that. More formally, it turns out to be the case that for
many traits genetic differences affect behavior under some environmental
circumstances but not others, a phenomenon called gene-environment
interaction, or G x E. In one well-known example, Caspi et al. (2002) showed
that among maltreated children, those who carried a particular allele of the
MAOA gene showed a predisposition to violence and antisocial behavior, while
those with other alleles did not. The gene had no effect in children who had not
been maltreated. Making matters even more complex are very recent studies
of what is known as epigenetics (see chapter, Epigenetics), a process in which
the DNA itself can modified by environmental events, and those changes
transmitted to children.
Another question we sometimes want to answer when we think about
naturenurture is how susceptible a trait is to being changed, how malleable it
is, or whether we have a choice about it. But, these questions are also much
more complex than they appear at first. Phenylketonuria is an inborn error of
metabolism caused by a single gene; it prevents the body from metabolizing
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phenylalanine. Untreated it causes mental retardation and death, but it can be

treated effectively by a straightforward environmental intervention: avoiding
foods containing phenylalanine. Height seems like a trait about which we have
no choice, something that is firmly rooted in our nature, but the average height
of many populations of people in Asia and Europe has increased massively in
the past 100 years. Such rapid change cannot be genetic; instead it is the result
of changes in diet and alleviation of poverty. Even the most modern genetics
has not provided definitive answers to naturenurture questions. When it was
first becoming possible to measure the DNA sequences of individual people, it
was widely thought that we would quickly progress to finding the specific genes
that account for the heritability of behavioral characteristics, but it hasnt
happened. For most traits, there are a few rare genes with large (almost always
negative) effects, such as the single gene that causes Huntingtons disease or
the Apolipoprotein gene that causes early dementia in a small percentage of
cases of Alzheimers disease. Beyond these rare genes of large effect, however,
genetic effects on behavior are broken up over many genes, each with very
small effects. For most behavioral traits, the effects are so small and distributed
across so many genes that we have not been able to catalog them in a
meaningful way. In fact, the same is true of environmental effects. We know
that extreme environmental deprivation causes catastrophic effects for many
behavioral outcomes, but fortunately extreme environmental deprivation is
very rare. The environmental events responsible for differences in the normal
rangewhy some children in a suburban third-grade classroom perform better
than othersare much more difficult to discern.
The difficulties of finding unified solutions to naturenurture problems
brings us back to the other great questions about humans relationships with
the natural world. Detailed examination of what we mean when we say that we
are conscious of something or that we have free will to choose something
reveals that consciousness is not a simple entity that we can find in the brain
somewhere, and that choice is not a unified activity that we can apply to some
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behaviors but not others. So it is with nature and nurture. What at first appears
to be a straightforward distinction that might be indexed with a single number
becomes more and more multifaceted the closer we examine it. The many
questions we can ask about the relationships among genes, environments, and
human traitshow sensitive are traits to environmental change, and how
common are the environments to which they are sensitive; whether parents or
the broader cultural environment are more relevant; how sensitive traits are to
differences in genetic endowment, and how much do the relevant genes vary
in a particular population; whether a single gene or a great many genes are
involved; whether a trait is more easily described in genetic or more complex
behavioral termsall these questions may have different answers, and the
answer to one tells us little about the answers to the others.
Once we learn the profound and wide-ranging effects of genetic differences
on all human characteristics, especially behavioral ones, it is tempting to
conclude that our cultural, ethical, legal, and personal ways of thinking about
ourselves will have to undergo profound changes to take genetic effects into
account. Perhaps criminal proceedings will have to consider genetic
background. Parents, presented with the genetic sequence of their children,
will be faced with difficult decisions about reproduction. These hopes or fears
are often exaggerated. In some ways, our thinking may need to change,
especially if it was once informed by a superficially empirical reading of the
great American principle that all men are created equal. Human beings differ,
and like all evolved organisms they differ genetically. The Declaration of
Independence predates Darwin and Mendel, but it is hard to imagine that
Jefferson-- whose genius encompassed botany as well as moral philosophy-would have been alarmed to learn about the genetic diversity of organisms. It
must be remembered that for almost all human behavioral characteristics,
modern genetics has taught us that the genesis of human behavior is too
complex to be predicted from even the most complete genetic information,
unless one happens to have an identical twin. The science of nature and nurture
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has demonstrated that genetic differences among people are integral to human
moral equality, freedom, and self-determination, not opposed to them. As
Mordecai Kaplan said about the role of the past in Jewish theology, genetics
gets a vote, not a veto, in the determination of human behavior. We should
indulge our fascination with naturenurture while resisting the temptation to
oversimplify it.
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Outside Resources
Web: Institute for Behavioral Genetics
http://www.colorado.edu/ibg/
1. Is your personality more like one of your parents than the other? If you have
a sibling, is his or her personality like yours? In your family, how did these
similarities and differences develop? What do you think caused them?
2. Can you think of a human characteristic for which genetic differences would
play almost no role? Defend your choice.
3. Do you think the time will come when we will be able to predict almost
everything about someone by examining their DNA on the day they are
born?
4. Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins for the trait of
aggressiveness, as well as for criminal behavior. Do these facts have
implications for the courtroom? If it can be shown that a violent criminal
had violent parents, should it make a difference in culpability or sentencing?
Vocabulary
Adoption study
A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted
children to their adoptive and biological parents.
Behavioral genetics
The empirical science of how genes and environments combine to generate
behavior.
Heritability coefficient
An easily misinterpreted statistical construct that purports to measure the role
of genetics in the explanation of differences among individuals.
Quantitative genetics
Scientific and mathematical methods for inferring genetic and environmental
processes based on the degree of genetic and environmental similarity among
organisms.
Twin studies
A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of the similarity
of identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins.
Reference List
Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., & Segal, N. L. (1990). Sources of human
psychological differences: The Minnesota study of twins reared apart.
Science, 250(4978), 223228.
Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., Taylor, A. & Poulton,
R. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children.
Science, 297(5582), 851854.
McGue, M., & Lykken, D. T. (1992). Genetic influence on risk of divorce.

Psychological Science, 3(6), 368373.
Plomin, R., Corley, R., DeFries, J. C., & Fulker, D. W. (1990). Individual differences
in television viewing in early childhood: Nature as well as nurture.
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., Knopik, V. S., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (2012). Behavioral
genetics. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Scott, J. P., & Fuller, J. L. (1998). Genetics and the social behavior of the dog.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Turkheimer, E. (2000). Three laws of behavior genetics and what they mean.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(5), 160164.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Nature-Nurture Question by Eric Turkheimer
is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Topic 3
Sensation and Perception
Vision
Simona Buetti & Alejandro Lleras
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Vision is the sensory modality that transforms light into a psychological
experience of the world around you, with minimal bodily effort. This chapter
provides an overview of the most significant steps in this transformation and
strategies that your brain uses to achieve this visual understanding of the
environment.
Learning Objectives
Describe how the eye transforms light information into neural energy.
Understand what sorts of information the brain is interested in extracting

from the environment and why it is useful.
Describe how the visual system has adapted to deal with different lighting
conditions.
Understand the value of having two eyes.
Understand why we have color vision.
Understand the interdependence between vision and other brain functions.
What Is Vision?
Think about the spectacle of a starry night. You look up at the sky, and thousands
of photons from distant stars come crashing into your retina, a light-sensitive
structure at the back of your eyeball. These photons are millions of years old
and have survived a trip across the universe, only to run into one of your
photoreceptors. Tough luck: in one thousandth of a second, this little bit of light
energy becomes the fuel to a photochemical reaction known as
photoactivation. The light energy becomes neural energy and triggers a
cascade of neural activity that, a few hundredths of a second later, will result
in your becoming aware of that distant star. You and the universe united by
photons. That is the amazing power of vision. Light brings the world to you.
Without moving, you know whats out there. You can recognize friends coming
to meet you before you are able to hear them coming, ripe fruits from green
ones on trees without having to taste them and before reaching out to grab
them. You can also tell how quickly a ball is moving in your direction (Will it hit
you? Can you hit it?).
How does all of that happen? First, light enters the eyeball through a tiny
hole known as the pupil and, thanks to the refractive properties of your cornea
and lens, this light signal gets projected sharply into the retina (see Outside
Resources for a detailed description of the eye structure). There, light is
transduced into neural energy by about 200 million photoreceptor cells. This
is where the information carried by the light about distant objects and colors
starts being encoded by our brain. There are two different types of
photoreceptors: rods and cones. Rods give us sensitivity under dim lighting
conditions and allow us to see at night. Cones allow us to see fine details in
bright light and give us the sensation of color. Cones are tightly packed around
the fovea (the central region of the retina behind your pupil) and more sparsely
elsewhere. Rods populate the periphery (the region surrounding the fovea) and
are almost absent from the fovea.
nobaproject.com - Vision
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But vision is far more complex than just catching photons. The information
encoded by the photoreceptors undergoes a rapid and continuous set of ever
more complex analysis so that, eventually, you can make sense of whats out
there. At the fovea, visual information is encoded separately from tiny portions
of the world (each about half the width of a human hair viewed at arms length)
so that eventually the brain can reconstruct in great detail fine visual differences
from locations at which you are directly looking. This fine level of encoding
requires lots of light and it is slow going (neurally speaking). In contrast, in the
periphery, there is a different encoding strategy: detail is sacrificed in exchange
for sensitivity. Information is summed across larger sections of the world. This
aggregation occurs quickly and allows you to detect dim signals under very low
levels of light, as well as detect sudden movements in your peripheral vision.
The Importance of Contrast

What happens next? Well, you might think that the eye would do something
like record the amount of light at each location in the world and then send this
information to the visual-processing areas of the brain (an astounding 30% of
the cortex is influenced by visual signals!). But, in fact, that is not what eyes do.
As soon as photoreceptors capture light, the nervous system gets busy
analyzing differences in light, and it is these differences that get transmitted to
the brain. The brain, it turns out, cares little about the overall amount of light
coming from a specific part of the world, or in the scene overall. Rather, it wants
to know: does the light coming from this one point differ from the light coming
from the point next to it? Place your hand on the table in front of you. The
contour of your hand is actually determined by the difference in lightthe
contrastbetween the light coming from the skin in your hand and the light
coming from the table underneath. To find the contour of your hand, we simply
need to find the regions in the image where the difference in light between two
adjacent points is maximal. Two points on your skin will reflect similar levels of
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light back to you, as will two points on the table. On the other hand, two points
that fall on either side of the boundary contour between your hand and the
table will reflect very different light.
The fact that the brain is interested in coding contrast in the world reveals
something deeply important about the forces that drove the evolution of our
brain: encoding the absolute amount of light in the world tells us little about
what is out there. But if your brain can detect the sudden appearance of a
difference in light somewhere in front of you, then it must be that something
new is there. That contrast signal is information. That information may
represent something that you like (food, a friend) or something dangerous
approaching (a tiger, a cliff). The rest of your visual system will work hard to
determine what that thing is, but as quickly as 10ms after light enters your eyes,
ganglion cells in your retinae have already encoded all the differences in light
from the world in front of you.
Contrast is so important that your neurons go out of their way not only to
encode differences in light but to exaggerate those differences for you, lest you
miss them. Neurons achieve this via a process known as lateral inhibition.
When a neuron is firing in response to light, it produces two signals: an output
signal to pass on to the next level in vision, and a lateral signal to inhibit all
neurons that are next to it. This makes sense on the assumption that nearby
neurons are likely responding to the same light coming from nearby locations,
so this information is somewhat redundant. The magnitude of the lateral
inhibitory signal a neuron produces is proportional to the excitatory input that
neuron receives: the more a neuron fires, the stronger the inhibition it produces.
Figure 1 illustrates how lateral inhibition amplifies contrast signals at the edges
of surfaces.
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Figure 1. Illustration of Lateral Inhibition at work. The top of the figure shows a black stripe
on a white background. The first row of circles illustrates photoreceptors responding in a
graded fashion: the more light hits them, the more they fire. The numbers inside the circles
represent how much these cells are firing, and the thickness of lines is also meant to illustrate
the strength of neural firing. These photoreceptors activate the next layer of neurons in the
retina: bipolar cells. These cells produce lateral inhibition signals, depicted by the horizontal
lines that end with a small circle. The inhibition signals are proportional (here, 10% for ease)
to the excitatory input they receive. Cells receiving 100 units will inhibit their neighbors by 10
units. Cells receiving 20 units will inhibit their neighbors by 2 units. The output of a bipolar
cell will be determined by the input it receives minus all the lateral inhibition signals from its
neighbors. As a result of the inhibition, notice how on the bright side of the edges, the firing
rates are the highest (88) compared to nearby neurons just coding bright light (80). These
higher values near the edge occur because these cells receive a comparatively small amount
of inhibition from their dark-side neighbor (-2). Similarly, on the dark side of the edge, the
firing rates are the lowest (8) of all the dark region (16) because these cells receive a
comparatively large amount of inhibition from their bright-side neighbor (-10). Overall, the
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image is coded as a black stripe surrounded by brighter light, but now, thanks to lateral
inhibition, all the edges in the image have been emphasized (enhanced), as illustrated by the
perceived luminance profile at the bottom of the image.
Sensitivity to Different Light Conditions

Lets think for a moment about the range of conditions in which your visual
system must operate day in and day out. When you take a walk outdoors on a
sunny day, as many as billions of photons enter your eyeballs every second. In
contrast, when you wake up in the middle of the night in a dark room, there
might be as little as a few hundred photons per second entering your eyes. To
deal with these extremes, the visual system relies on the different properties
of the two types of photoreceptors. Rods are mostly responsible for processing
light when photons are scarce (just a single photon can make a rod fire!), but it
takes time to replenish the visual pigment that rods require for photoactivation.
So, under bright conditions, rods are quickly bleached (Stuart & Brige, 1996)
and cannot keep up with the constant barrage of photons hitting them. Thats
when the cones become useful. Cones require more photons to fire and, more
critically, their photopigments replenish much faster than rods photopigments,
allowing them to keep up when photons are abundant.
What happens when you abruptly change lighting conditions? Under bright
light, your rods are bleached. When you move into a dark environment, it will
take time (up to 30 minutes) before they chemically recover (Hurley, 2002). Once
they do, you will begin to see things around you that initially you could not. This
phenomenon is called dark adaptation. When you go from dark to bright light
(as you exit a tunnel on a highway, for instance), your rods will be bleached in
a blaze and you will be blinded by the sudden light for about 1 second. However,
your cones are ready to fire! Their firing will take over and you will quickly begin
to see at this higher level of light.
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A similar, but more subtle, adjustment occurs when the change in lighting
is not so drastic. Think about your experience of reading a book at night in your
bed compared to reading outdoors: the room may feel to you fairly well
illuminated (enough so you can read) but the light bulbs in your room are not
producing the billions of photons that you encounter outside. In both cases,
you feel that your experience is that of a well-lit environment. You dont feel
one experience as millions of times brighter than the other. This is because
vision (as much of perception) is not proportional: seeing twice as many photons
does not produce a sensation of seeing twice as bright a light. The visual system
tunes into the current experience by favoring a range of contrast values that is
most informative in that environment (Gardner et al., 2005). This is the concept
of contrast gain: the visual system determines the mean contrast in a scene
and represents values around that mean contrast best, while ignoring smaller
contrast differences. (See the Outside Resources section for a demonstration.)
The Reconstruction Process

What happens once information leaves your eyes and enters the brain? Neurons
project first into the thalamus, in a section known as the lateral geniculate
nucleus. The information then splits and projects towards two different parts
of the brain. Most of the computations regarding reflexive eye movements are
computed in subcortical regions, the evolutionarily older part of the brain.
Reflexive eye movements allow you to quickly orient your eyes towards areas
of interest and to track objects as they move. The more complex computations,
those that eventually allow you to have a visual experience of the world, all
happen in the cortex, the evolutionarily newer region of the brain. The first stop
in the cortex is at the primary visual cortex (also known as V1). Here, the
reconstruction process begins in earnest: based on the contrast information
arriving from the eyes, neurons will start computing information about color
and simple lines, detecting various orientations and thicknesses. Small-scale
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motion signals are also computed (Hubel & Wiesel, 1962).

As information begins to flow towards other higher areas of the system,
more complex computations are performed. For example, edges are assigned
to the object to which they belong, backgrounds are separated from
foregrounds, colors are assigned to surfaces, and the global motion of objects
is computed. Many of these computations occur in specialized brain areas. For
instance, an area called MT processes global-motion information; the
parahippocampal place area identifies locations and scenes; the fusiform face
area specializes in identifying objects for which fine discriminations are
required, like faces. There is even a brain region specialized in letter and word
processing. These visual-recognition areas are located along the ventral
pathway of the brain (also known as the What pathway). Other brain regions
along the dorsal pathway (or Where-and-How pathway) will compute
information about self- and object-motion, allowing you to interact with objects,
navigate the environment, and avoid obstacles (Goodale and Milner, 1992).
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Figure 2: Areas of the brain
Now that you have a basic understanding of how your visual system works,
you can ask yourself the question: why do you have two eyes? Everything that
we discussed so far could be computed with information coming from a single
eye. So why two? Looking at the animal kingdom gives us a clue. Animals who
tend to be prey have eyes located on opposite sides of their skull. This allows
them to detect predators whenever one appears anywhere around them.
Humans, like most predators, have two eyes pointing in the same direction,
encoding almost the exact scene twice. This redundancy gives us a binocular
advantage: having two eyes not only provides you with two chances at catching
a signal in front of you, but the minute difference in perspective that you get
from each eye is used by your brain to reconstruct the sense of threedimensional space. You can get an estimate of how far distant objects are from
you, their size, and their volume. This is no easy feat: the signal in each eye is
a two-dimensional projection of the world, like two separate pictures drawn
upon your retinae. Yet, your brain effortlessly provides you with a sense of
depth by combining those two signals. This 3-D reconstruction process also
relies heavily on all the knowledge you acquired through experience about
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spatial information. For instance, your visual system learns to interpret how
the volume, distance, and size of objects change as they move closer or farther
from you. (See the Outside Resources section for demonstrations.)
The Experience of Color

Perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of vision is the richness of the color
experience that it provides us. One of the challenges that we have as scientists
is to understand why the human color experience is what it is. Perhaps you
have heard that dogs only have 2 types of color photoreceptors, whereas
humans have 3, chickens have 4, and mantis shrimp have 16. Why is there such
variation across species? Scientists believe each species has evolved with
different needs and uses color perception to signal information about food,
reproduction, and health that are unique to their species. For example, humans
have a specific sensitivity that allows you to detect slight changes in skin tone.
You can tell when someone is embarrassed, aroused, or ill. Detecting these
subtle signals is adaptive in a social species like ours.
How is color coded in the brain? The two leading theories of color perception
were proposed in the mid-19th century, about 100 years before physiological
evidence was found to corroborate them both (Svaetichin, 1956). Trichromacy
theory, proposed by Young (1802) and Helmholtz (1867), proposed that the eye
had three different types of color-sensitive cells based on the observation that
any one color can be reproduced by combining lights from three lamps of
different hue. If you can adjust separately the intensity of each light, at some
point you will find the right combination of the three lights to match any color
in the world. This principle is used today on TVs, computer screens, and any
colored display. If you look closely enough at a pixel, you will find that it is
composed of a blue, a red, and a green light, of varying intensities. Regarding
the retina, humans have three types of cones: S-cones, M-cones, and L-cones
(also known as blue, green, and red cones, respectively) that are sensitive to
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three different wavelengths of light.

Around the same time, Hering made a puzzling discovery: some colors are
impossible to create. Whereas you can make yellowish greens, bluish reds,
greenish blues, and reddish yellows by combining two colors, you can never
make a reddish green or a bluish yellow. This observation led Hering (1892) to
propose the Opponent Process theory of color: color is coded via three
opponent channels (red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white). Within each
channel, a comparison is constantly computed between the two elements in
the pair. In other words, colors are encoded as differences between two hues
and not as simple combinations of hues. Again, what matters to the brain is
contrast. When one element is stronger than the other, the stronger color is
perceived and the weaker one is suppressed. You can experience this
phenomenon in Figure 3. When both colors in a pair are present to equal
extents, the color perception is canceled and we perceive a level of grey. This
is why you cannot see a reddish green or a bluish yellow: they cancel each other
out. By the way, if you are wondering where the yellow signal comes from, it
turns out that it is computed by averaging the M- and L-cone signals. Are these
colors uniquely human colors? Some think that they are: the red-green contrast,
for example, is finely tuned to detect changes in human skin tone so you can
tell when someone blushes or becomes pale. So, the next time you go out for
a walk with your dog, look at the sunset and ask yourself, what color does my
dog see? Probably none of the orange hues you do!
So now, you can ask yourself the question: do all humans experience color
in the same way? Color-blind people, as you can imagine, do not see all the
colors that the rest of us see, and this is due to the fact that they lack one (or
more) cones in their retina. Incidentally, there are a few women who actually
have four different sets of cones in their eyes, and recent research suggests
that their experience of color can be (but not always is) richer than the one from
three-coned people. A slightly different question, though, is whether all threeconed people have the same internal experiences of colors: is the red inside
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your head the same red inside your moms head? That is an almost impossible
question to answer that has been debated by philosophers for millennia, yet
recent data suggests that there might in fact be cultural differences in the way
we perceive color. As it turns out, not all cultures categorize colors in the same
way, for example. And some groups see different shades of what we in the
Western world would call the same color, as categorically different colors. The
Berinmo tribe in New Guinea, for instance, appear to experience green shades
that denote leaves that are alive as belonging to an entirely different color
category than the sort of green shades that denote dying leaves. Russians, too,
appear to experience light and dark shades of blue as different categories of
colors, in a way that most Westerners do not. Further, current brain imaging
research suggests that peoples brains change (increase in white-matter
volume) when they learn new color categories! These are intriguing and
suggestive findings, for certain, that seem to indicate that our cultural
environment may in fact have some (small) but definite impact on how people
use and experience colors across the globe.
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Figure 3. Demonstration of color aftereffect. Look at the black dot in the top panel for 15
seconds. Then quickly move your eyes to the center dot in the bottom panel. The normally
gray circles will appear tinted in the opponent color of each corresponding circle. For example,
the top left circle appears green, which is opponent to the red color you saw on the
corresponding circle on the top panel.
Integration with Other Modalities

Vision is not an encapsulated system. It interacts with and depends on other
sensory modalities. For example, when you move your head in one direction,
your eyes reflexively move in the opposite direction to compensate, allowing
you to maintain your gaze on the object that you are looking at. This reflex is
called the vestibulo-ocular reflex. It is achieved by integrating information from
both the visual and the vestibular system (which knows about body motion and
position). You can experience this compensation quite simply. First, while you
keep your head still and your gaze looking straight ahead, wave your finger in
front of you from side to side. Notice how the image of the finger appears blurry.
Now, keep your finger steady and look at it while you move your head from side
to side. Notice how your eyes reflexively move to compensate the movement
of your head and how the image of the finger stays sharp and stable. Vision
also interacts with your proprioceptive system, to help you find where all your
body parts are, and with your auditory system, to help you understand the
sounds people make when they speak. You can learn more about this in the
multimodal chapter.
Finally, vision is also often implicated in a blending-of-sensations
phenomenon known as synesthesia. Synesthesia occurs when one sensory
signal gives rise to two or more sensations. The most common type is graphemecolor synesthesia. About 1 in 200 individuals experience a sensation of color
associated with specific letters, numbers, or words: the number 1 might always
be seen as red, the number 2 as orange, etc. But the more fascinating forms of
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synesthesia blend sensations from entirely different sensory modalities, like

taste and color or music and color: the taste of chicken might elicit a sensation
of green, for example, and the timbre of violin a deep purple.
Concluding Remarks
We are at an exciting moment in our scientific understanding of vision. We have
just begun to get a functional understanding of the visual system. It is not
sufficiently evolved for us to recreate artificial visual systems (i.e., we still cannot
make robots that see and understand light signals as we do), but we are getting
there. Just recently, major breakthroughs in vision science have allowed
researchers to significantly improve retinal prosthetics: photosensitive circuits
that can be implanted on the back of the eyeball of blind people that connect
to visual areas of the brain and have the capacity to partially restore a visual
experience to these patients (Nirenberg & Pandarinath, 2012). And using
functional magnetic brain imaging, we can now decode from your brain activity
the images that you saw in your dreams while you were asleep (Horikawa,
Tamaki, Miyawaki, & Kamitani, 2013)! Yet, there is still so much more to
understand. Consider this: if vision is a construction process that takes time,
whatever we see now is no longer what is front of us. Yet, humans can do
amazing time-sensitive feats like hitting a 90-mph fastball in a baseball game.
It appears then that a fundamental function of vision is not just to know what
is happening around you now, but actually to make an accurate inference about
what you are about to see next (Enns & Lleras, 2008), so that you can keep up
with the world. Understanding how this future-oriented, predictive function of
vision is achieved in the brain is probably the next big challenge in this
fascinating realm of research.
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Outside Resources
Video: Acquired knowledge and its impact on our three-dimensional
interpretation of the world - 3D Street Art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwNeukAmxJw
interpretation of the world - Anamorphic Illusions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBNHPk-Lnkk
interpretation of the world - Optical Illusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjmHofJ2da0&feature=related
Web: Amazing library with visual phenomena and optical illusions, explained
http://michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
Web: Anatomy of the eye
http://www.eyecareamerica.org/eyecare/anatomy/
Web: Demonstration of contrast gain adaptation
http://www.med.yale.edu/neurobio/mccormick/contrast/wave.html
Web: Demonstration of illusory contours and lateral inhibition. Mach bands
http://michaelbach.de/ot/lum-MachBands/index.html
Web: Demonstration of illusory contrast and lateral inhibition. The Hermann
grid
http://michaelbach.de/ot/lum_herGrid/
Web: Further information regarding what and where/how pathways

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/What_and_where_pathways
1. When running in the dark, it is recommended that you never look straight
at the ground. Why? What would be a better strategy to avoid obstacles?
2. The majority of ganglion cells in the eye specialize in detecting drops in the
amount of light coming from a given location. That is, they increase their
firing rate when they detect less light coming from a specific location. Why
might the absence of light be more important than the presence of light?
Why would it be evolutionarily advantageous to code this type of
information?
3. There is a hole in each one of your eyeballs called the optic disk. This is
where veins enter the eyeball and where neurons (the axons of the ganglion
cells) exit the eyeball. Why do you not see two holes in the world all the
time? Close one eye now. Why do you not see a hole in the world now? To
experience a blind spot, follow the instructions in this website: http://
michaelbach.de/ot/cog_blindSpot/index.html
4. Imagine you were given the task of testing the color-perception abilities of
a newly discovered species of monkeys in the South Pacific. How would you
go about it?
5. An important aspect of emotions is that we sense them in ourselves much
in the same way as we sense other perceptions like vision. Can you think of
an example where the concept of contrast gain can be used to understand
peoples responses to emotional events?
Vocabulary
Binocular advantage
Benefits from having two eyes as opposed to a single eye.
Cones
Photoreceptors that operate in lighted environments and can encode fine visual
details. There are three different kinds (S or blue, M or green and L or red) that
are each sensitive to slightly different types of light. Combined, these three
types of cones allow you to have color vision.
Contrast
Relative difference in the amount and type of light coming from two nearby
locations.
Contrast gain
Process where the sensitivity of your visual system can be tuned to be most
sensitive to the levels of contrast that are most prevalent in the environment.
Dark adaptation
Process that allows you to become sensitive to very small levels of light, so that
you can actually see in the near-absence of light.
Lateral inhibition
A signal produced by a neuron aimed at suppressing the response of nearby
neurons.
Opponent Process Theory

Theory of color vision that assumes there are four different basic colors,
organized into two pairs (red/green and blue/yellow) and proposes that colors
in the world are encoded in terms of the opponency (or difference) between
the colors in each pair. There is an additional black/white pair responsible for
coding light contrast.
Photoactivation
A photochemical reaction that occurs when light hits photoreceptors, producing
a neural signal.
Primary visual cortex (V1)

Brain region located in the occipital cortex (toward the back of the head)
responsible for processing basic visual information like the detection, thickness,
and orientation of simple lines, color, and small-scale motion.
Rods
Photoreceptors that are very sensitive to light and are mostly responsible for
night vision.
Synesthesia
The blending of two or more sensory experiences, or the automatic activation
of a secondary (indirect) sensory experience due to certain aspects of the
primary (direct) sensory stimulation.
Trichromacy theory
Theory that proposes that all of your color perception is fundamentally based
on the combination of three (not two, not four) different color signals.
Vestibulo-ocular reflex
Coordination of motion information with visual information that allows you to
maintain your gaze on an object while you move.
What pathway
Pathway of neural processing in the brain that is responsible for your ability to
recognize what is around you.
Where-and-How pathway
Pathway of neural processing in the brain that is responsible for you knowing
where things are in the world and how to interact with them.
Reference List
Enns, J. T., & Lleras, A. (2008). New evidence for prediction in human vision.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12 327333.
Gardner, J. L., Sun, P., Waggoner, R. A. , Ueno, K., Tanaka, K., & Cheng, K. (2005).
Contrast adaptation and representation in human early visual cortex.
Neuron, 47, 607620.
Goodale, M. A., & Milner, A. D. (1992). Separate visual pathways for perception
and action. Trends in Neuroscience, 15, 2025.
Helmholtz, H. von. (1867). Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik. Leipzig:
Leopold Voss.
Hering, E. (1892). Grundzu ge der Lehre vom Lichtsinn. Berlin, Germany:
Springer.
Horikawa, T., Tamaki, M., Miyawaki, Y., & Kamitani, Y. (2013). Neural decoding
of visual imagery during sleep. Science, 340(6132), 639642.
Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction, and
functional architecture in the cats visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, 160,
106154.
Hurley, J. B. (2002). Shedding light on adaptation. Journal of General Physiology,
119, 125128.
Nirenberg, S., & Pandarinath, C. (2012). Retinal prosthetic strategy with the
capacity to restore normal vision. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 109 (37), 1501215017.

Stuart, J. A., & Brige, R. R. (1996). Characterization of the primary photochemical
events in bacteriorhodopsin and rhodopsin. In A. G. Lee (Ed.), Rhodopsin
and G-protein linked receptors (Part A, Vol. 2, pp. 33140). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
Svaetichin, G. (1956). Spectral response curves from single cones,
Actaphysiologica Scandinavia, Suppl. 134, 1746.
Young, T. (1802). Bakerian lecture: On the theory of light and colours.
Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society London, 92, 1248.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Vision by Simona Buetti and Alejandro Lleras is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Hearing
Andrew J. Oxenham
University of Minnesota
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Hearing allows us to perceive the world of acoustic vibrations all around us,
and provides us with our most important channels of communication. This
chapter reviews the basic mechanisms of hearing, beginning with the anatomy
and physiology of the ear and a brief review of the auditory pathways up to the
auditory cortex. An outline of the basic perceptual attributes of sound, including
loudness, pitch, and timbre, is followed by a review of the principles of tonotopic
organization, established in the cochlea. An overview of masking and frequency
selectivity is followed by a review of the perception and neural mechanisms
underlying spatial hearing. Finally, an overview is provided of auditory scene
analysis, which tackles the important question of how the auditory system is
able to make sense of the complex mixtures of sounds that are encountered
in everyday acoustic environments.
Learning Objectives
Describe the basic auditory attributes of sound.
Describe the structure and general function of the auditory pathways from
the outer ear to the auditory cortex.
Discuss ways in which we are able to locate sounds in space.
Describe various acoustic cues that contribute to our ability to perceptually

segregate simultaneously arriving sounds.
Introduction
Hearing forms a crucial part of our everyday life. Most of our communication
with others, via speech or music, reaches us through the ears. Indeed, a saying,
often attributed to Helen Keller, is that blindness separates us from things, but
deafness separates us from people. The ears respond to acoustic information,
or soundtiny and rapid variations in air pressure. Sound waves travel from
the source and produce pressure variations in the listeners ear canals, causing
the eardrums (or tympanic membranes) to vibrate. This chapter provides an
overview of the events that follow, which convert these simple mechanical
vibrations into our rich experience known as hearing, or auditory perception.
Perceptual Attributes of Sound

There are many ways to describe a sound, but the perceptual attributes of a
sound can typically be divided into three main categoriesnamely, loudness,
pitch, and timbre. Although all three refer to perception, and not to the physical
sounds themselves, they are strongly related to various physical variables.
Loudness
The most direct physical correlate of loudness is sound intensity (or sound
pressure) measured close to the eardrum. However, many other factors also
influence the loudness of a sound, including its frequency content, its duration,
and the context in which it is presented. Some of the earliest psychophysical
studies of auditory perception, going back more than a century, were aimed at
examining the relationships between perceived loudness, the physical sound
intensity, and the just-noticeable differences in loudness (Fechner, 1860;
Stevens, 1957). A great deal of time and effort has been spent refining various
nobaproject.com - Hearing
392
measurement methods. These methods involve techniques such as magnitude

estimation, where a series of sounds (often sinusoids, or pure tones of single
frequency) are presented sequentially at different sound levels, and subjects
are asked to assign numbers to each tone, corresponding to the perceived
loudness. Other studies have examined how loudness changes as a function
of the frequency of a tone, resulting in the international standard iso-loudnesslevel contours (ISO, 2003), which are used in many areas of industry to assess
noise and annoyance issues. Such studies have led to the development of
computational models that are designed to predict the loudness of arbitrary
sounds (e.g., Moore, Glasberg, & Baer, 1997).
Pitch
Pitch plays a crucial role in acoustic communication. Pitch variations over time
provide the basis of melody for most types of music; pitch contours in speech
provide us with important prosodic information in non-tone languages, such
as English, and help define the meaning of words in tone languages, such as
Mandarin Chinese. Pitch is essentially the perceptual correlate of waveform
periodicity, or repetition rate: The faster a waveform repeats over time, the
higher is its perceived pitch. The most common pitch-evoking sounds are known
as harmonic complex tones. They are complex because they consist of more
than one frequency, and they are harmonic because the frequencies are all
integer multiples of a common fundamental frequency (F0). For instance, a
harmonic complex tone with a F0 of 100 Hz would also contain energy at
frequencies of 200, 300, 400 Hz, and so on. These higher frequencies are known
as harmonics or overtones, and they also play an important role in determining
the pitch of a sound. In fact, even if the energy at the F0 is absent or masked,
we generally still perceive the remaining sound to have a pitch corresponding
to the F0. This phenomenon is known as the pitch of the missing fundamental,
and it has played an important role in the formation of theories and models
393
about pitch (de Cheveign, 2005). We hear pitch with sufficient accuracy to
perceive melodies over a range of F0s from about 30 Hz (Pressnitzer, Patterson,
& Krumbholz, 2001) up to about 45 kHz (Attneave & Olson, 1971; Oxenham,
Micheyl, Keebler, Loper, & Santurette, 2011). This range also corresponds quite
well to the range covered by musical instruments; for instance, the modern
grand piano has notes that extend from 27.5 Hz to 4,186 Hz. We are able to
discriminate changes in frequency above 5,000 Hz, but we are no longer very
accurate in recognizing melodies or judging musical intervals.
Timbre
Timbre refers to the quality of sound, and is often described using words such
as bright, dull, harsh, and hollow. Technically, timbre includes anything that
allows us to distinguish two sounds that have the same loudness, pitch, and
duration. For instance, a violin and a piano playing the same note sound very
different, based on their sound quality or timbre.
An important aspect of timbre is the spectral content of a sound. Sounds
with more high-frequency energy tend to sound brighter, tinnier, or harsher
than sounds with more low-frequency content, which might be described as
deep, rich, or dull. Other important aspects of timbre include the temporal
envelope (or outline) of the sound, especially how it begins and ends. For
instance, a piano has a rapid onset, or attack, produced by the hammer striking
the string, whereas the attack of a clarinet note can be much more gradual.
Artificially changing the onset of a piano note by, for instance, playing a recording
backwards, can dramatically alter its character so that it is no longer
recognizable as a piano note. In general, the overall spectral content and the
temporal envelope can provide a good first approximation to any sound, but it
turns out that subtle changes in the spectrum over time (or spectro-temporal
variations) are crucial in creating plausible imitations of natural musical
instruments (Risset & Wessel, 1999).
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An Overview of the Auditory System
Figure 1: Diagram of the outer, middle, and inner ear.
Our auditory perception depends on how sound is processed through the ear.
The ear can be divided into three main partsthe outer, middle, and inner ear
(see Figure 1). The outer ear consists of the pinna (the visible part of the ear,
with all its unique folds and bumps), the ear canal (or auditory meatus), and
the tympanic membrane. Of course, most of us have two functioning ears,
which turn out to be particularly useful when we are trying to figure out where
a sound is coming from. As discussed below in the section on spatial hearing,
our brain can compare the subtle differences in the signals at the two ears to
localize sounds in space. However, this trick does not always help: for instance,
a sound directly in front or directly behind you will not produce a difference
395
between the ears. In these cases, the filtering produced by the pinnae helps us
localize sounds and resolve potential front-back and up-down confusions. More
generally, the folds and bumps of the pinna produce distinct peaks and dips in
the frequency response that depend on the location of the sound source. The
brain then learns to associate certain patterns of spectral peaks and dips with
certain spatial locations. Interestingly, this learned association remains
malleable, or plastic, even in adulthood. For instance, a study that altered the
pinnae using molds found that people could learn to use their new ears
accurately within a matter of a few weeks (Hofman, Van Riswick, & Van Opstal,
1998). Because of the small size of the pinna, these kinds of acoustic cues are
only found at high frequencies, above about 2 kHz. At lower frequencies, the
sound is basically unchanged whether it comes from above, in front, or below.
The ear canal itself is a tube that helps to amplify sound in the region from
about 1 to 4 kHza region particularly important for speech communication.
The middle ear consists of an air-filled cavity, which contains the three
middle-ear bones, known as the incus, malleus, and stapes, or hammer, mallet,
and stirrup, because of their respective shapes. They have the distinction of
being the smallest bones in the body. Their primary function is to transmit the
vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the oval window of the cochlea and,
via a form of lever action, to better match the impedance of the air surrounding
the tympanic membrane with that of the fluid within the cochlea.
The inner ear includes the cochlea, encased in the temporal bone of the
skull, in which the mechanical vibrations of sound are transduced into neural
signals that are processed by the brain. The cochlea is a spiral-shaped structure
that is filled with fluid. Along the length of the spiral runs the basilar membrane,
which vibrates in response to the pressure differences produced by vibrations
of the oval window. Sitting on the basilar membrane is the organ of Corti, which
runs the entire length of the basilar membrane from the base (by the oval
window) to the apex (the tip of the spiral). The organ of Corti includes three
rows of outer hair cells and one row of inner hair cells. The hair cells sense the
396
vibrations by way of their tiny hairs, or stereocillia. The outer hair cells seem to
function to mechanically amplify the sound-induced vibrations, whereas the
inner hair cells form synapses with the auditory nerve and transduce those
vibrations into action potentials, or neural spikes, which are transmitted along
the auditory nerve to higher centers of the auditory pathways.
One of the most important principles of hearingfrequency analysisis
established in the cochlea. In a way, the action of the cochlea can be likened to
that of a prism: the many frequencies that make up a complex sound are broken
down into their constituent frequencies, with low frequencies creating maximal
basilar-membrane vibrations near the apex of the cochlea and high frequencies
creating maximal basilar-membrane vibrations nearer the base of the cochlea.
This decomposition of sound into its constituent frequencies, and the
frequency-to-place mapping, or tonotopic representation, is a major
organizational principle of the auditory system, and is maintained in the neural
representation of sounds all the way from the cochlea to the primary auditory
cortex. The decomposition of sound into its constituent frequency components
is part of what allows us to hear more than one sound at a time. In addition to
representing frequency by place of excitation within the cochlea, frequencies
are also represented by the timing of spikes within the auditory nerve. This
property, known as phase locking, is crucial in comparing time-of-arrival
differences of waveforms between the two ears (see the section on spatial
hearing, below).
Unlike vision, where the primary visual cortex (or V1) is considered an early
stage of processing, auditory signals go through many stages of processing
before they reach the primary auditory cortex, located in the temporal lobe.
Although we have a fairly good understanding of the electromechanical
properties of the cochlea and its various structures, our understanding of the
processing accomplished by higher stages of the auditory pathways remains
somewhat sketchy. With the possible exception of spatial localization and
neurons tuned to certain locations in space (Harper & McAlpine, 2004; Knudsen
397
& Konishi, 1978), there is very little consensus on the how, what, and where of
auditory feature extraction and representation. There is evidence for a pitch
center in the auditory cortex from both human neuroimaging studies (e.g.,
Griffiths, Buchel, Frackowiak, & Patterson, 1998; Penagos, Melcher, & Oxenham,
2004) and single-unit physiology studies (Bendor & Wang, 2005), but even here
there remain some questions regarding whether a single area of cortex is
responsible for coding single features, such as pitch, or whether the code is
more distributed (Walker, Bizley, King, & Schnupp, 2011).
Audibility, Masking, and Frequency Selectivity

Overall, the human cochlea provides us with hearing over a very wide range of
frequencies. Young people with normal hearing are able to perceive sounds
with frequencies ranging from about 20 Hz all the way up to 20 kHz. The range
of intensities we can perceive is also impressive: the quietest sounds we can
hear in the medium-frequency range (between about 1 and 4 kHz) have a sound
intensity that is about a factor of 1,000,000,000,000 less intense than the loudest
sound we can listen to without incurring rapid and permanent hearing loss. In
part because of this enormous dynamic range, we tend to use a logarithmic
scale, known as decibels (dB), to describe sound pressure or intensity. On this
scale, 0 dB sound pressure level (SPL) is defined as 20 micro-Pascals (Pa), which
corresponds roughly to the quietest perceptible sound level, and 120 dB SPL is
considered dangerously loud.
Masking is the process by which the presence of one sound makes another
sound more difficult to hear. We all encounter masking in our everyday lives,
when we fail to hear the phone ring while we are taking a shower, or when we
struggle to follow a conversation in a noisy restaurant. In general, a more intense
sound will mask a less intense sound, provided certain conditions are met. The
most important condition is that the frequency content of the sounds overlap,
such that the activity in the cochlea produced by a masking sound swamps
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that produced by the target sound. Another type of masking, known as

suppression, occurs when the response to the masker reduces the neural (and
in some cases, the mechanical) response to the target sound. Because of the
way that filtering in the cochlea functions, low-frequency sounds are more likely
to mask high frequencies than vice versa, particularly at high sound intensities.
This asymmetric aspect of masking is known as the upward spread of masking.
The loss of sharp cochlear tuning that often accompanies cochlear damage
leads to broader filtering and more maskinga physiological phenomenon that
is likely to contribute to the difficulties experienced by people with hearing loss
in noisy environments (Moore, 2007).
Although much masking can be explained in terms of interactions within
the cochlea, there are other forms that cannot be accounted for so easily, and
that can occur even when interactions within the cochlea are unlikely. These
more central forms of masking come in different forms, but have often been
categorized together under the term informational masking (Durlach et al.,
2003; Watson & Kelly, 1978). Relatively little is known about the causes of
informational masking, although most forms can be ascribed to a perceptual
fusion of the masker and target sounds, or at least a failure to segregate the
target from the masking sounds. Also relatively little is known about the
physiological locus of informational masking, except that at least some forms
seem to originate in the auditory cortex and not before (Gutschalk, Micheyl, &
Oxenham, 2008).
Spatial Hearing
In contrast to vision, we have a 360 field of hearing. Our auditory acuity is,
however, at least an order of magnitude poorer than vision in locating an object
in space. Consequently, our auditory localization abilities are most useful in
alerting us and allowing us to orient towards sources, with our visual sense
generally providing the finer-grained analysis. Of course, there are differences
399
between species, and some, such as barn owls and echolocating bats, have
developed highly specialized sound localization systems.
Our ability to locate sound sources in space is an impressive feat of neural
computation. The two main sources of information both come from a
comparison of the sounds at the two ears. The first is based on interaural time
differences (ITD) and relies on the fact that a sound source on the left will
generate sound that will reach the left ear slightly before it reaches the right
ear. Although sound is much slower than light, its speed still means that the
time of arrival differences between the two ears is a fraction of a millisecond.
The largest ITD we encounter in the real world (when sounds are directly to the
left or right of us) are only a little over half a millisecond. With some practice,
humans can learn to detect an ITD of between 10 and 20 s (i.e., 20 millionths
of a second) (Klump & Eady, 1956).
The second source of information is based in interaural level differences
(ILDs). At higher frequencies (higher than about 1 kHz), the head casts an
acoustic shadow, so that when a sound is presented from the left, the sound
level at the left ear is somewhat higher than the sound level at the right ear. At
very high frequencies, the ILD can be as much as 20 dB, and we are sensitive
to differences as small as 1 dB.
As mentioned briefly in the discussion of the outer ear, information
regarding the elevation of a sound source, or whether it comes from in front
or behind, is contained in high-frequency spectral details that result from the
filtering effects of the pinnae.
In general, we are most sensitive to ITDs at low frequencies (below about
1.5 kHz). At higher frequencies we can still perceive changes in timing based on
the slowly varying temporal envelope of the sound but not the temporal fine
structure (Bernstein & Trahiotis, 2002; Smith, Delgutte, & Oxenham, 2002),
perhaps because of a loss of neural phase-locking to the temporal fine structure
at high frequencies. In contrast, ILDs are most useful at high frequencies, where
the head shadow is greatest. This use of different acoustic cues in different
400
frequency regions led to the classic and very early duplex theory of sound
localization (Rayleigh, 1907). For everyday sounds with a broad frequency
spectrum, it seems that our perception of spatial location is dominated by
interaural time differences in the low-frequency temporal fine structure
(Macpherson & Middlebrooks, 2002).
As with vision, our perception of distance depends to a large degree on
context. If we hear someone shouting at a very low sound level, we infer that
the shouter must be far away, based on our knowledge of the sound properties
of shouting. In rooms and other enclosed locations, the reverberation can also
provide information about distance: As a speaker moves further away, the direct
sound level decreases but the sound level of the reverberation remains about
the same; therefore, the ratio of direct-to-reverberant energy decreases
(Zahorik & Wightman, 2001).
Auditory Scene Analysis

There is usually more than one sound source in the environment at any one
timeimagine talking with a friend at a caf, with some background music
playing, the rattling of coffee mugs behind the counter, traffic outside, and a
conversation going on at the table next to yours. All these sources produce
sound waves that combine to form a single complex waveform at the eardrum,
the shape of which may bear very little relationship to any of the waves produced
by the individual sound sources. Somehow the auditory system is able to break
down, or decompose, these complex waveforms and allow us to make sense
of our acoustic environment by forming separate auditory objects or
streams, which we can follow as the sounds unfold over time (Bregman, 1990).
A number of heuristic principles have been formulated to describe how
sound elements are grouped to form a single object or segregated to form
multiple objects. Many of these originate from the early ideas proposed in vision
by the so-called Gestalt psychologists, such as Max Wertheimer. According to
401
these rules of thumb, sounds that are in close proximity, in time or frequency,
tend to be grouped together. Also, sounds that begin and end at the same time
tend to form a single auditory object. Interestingly, spatial location is not always
a strong or reliable grouping cue, perhaps because the location information
from individual frequency components is often ambiguous due to the effects
of reverberation. Several studies have looked into the relative importance of
different cues by trading off one cue against another. In some cases, this has
led to the discovery of interesting auditory illusions, where melodies that are
not present in the sounds presented to either ear emerge in the perception
(Deutsch, 1979), or where a sound element is perceptually lost in competing
perceptual organizations (Shinn-Cunningham, Lee, & Oxenham, 2007).
More recent attempts have used computational and neutrally based
approaches to uncover the mechanisms of auditory scene analysis (e.g., Elhilali,
Ma, Micheyl, Oxenham, & Shamma, 2009), and the field of computational
auditory scene analysis (CASA) has emerged in part as an effort to move towards
more principled, and less heuristic, approaches to understanding the parsing
and perception of complex auditory scenes (e.g., Wang & Brown, 2006). Solving
this problem will not only provide us with a better understanding of human
auditory perception, but may provide new approaches to smart hearing aids
and cochlear implants, as well as automatic speech recognition systems that
are more robust to background noise.
Conclusion
Hearing provides us with our most important connection to the people around
us. The intricate physiology of the auditory system transforms the tiny variations
in air pressure that reach our ear into the vast array of auditory experiences
that we perceive as speech, music, and sounds from the environment around
us. We are only beginning to understand the basic principles of neural coding
in higher stages of the auditory system, and how they relate to perception.
402
However, even our rudimentary understanding has improved the lives of

hundreds of thousands through devices such as cochlear implants, which recreate some of the ears functions for people with profound hearing loss.
403
Outside Resources
Audio: Auditory Demonstrations from Richard Warrens lab at the University
of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
http://www4.uwm.edu/APL/demonstrations.html
Audio: Auditory Demonstrations. CD published by the Acoustical Society of
America (ASA). You can listen to the demonstrations here
http://www.feilding.net/sfuad/musi3012-01/demos/audio/
Web: Demonstrations and illustrations of cochlear mechanics can be found
here
http://lab.rockefeller.edu/hudspeth/graphicalSimulations
Web: More demonstrations and illustrations of cochlear mechanics
http://www.neurophys.wisc.edu/animations/
1. Based on the available acoustic cues, how good do you think we are at
judging whether a low-frequency sound is coming from in front of us or
behind us? How might we solve this problem in the real world?
2. Outer hair cells contribute not only to amplification but also to the frequency
tuning in the cochlea. What are some of the difficulties that might arise for
people with cochlear hearing loss, due to these two factors? Why do hearing
aids not solve all these problems?
3. Why do you think the auditory system has so many stages of processing
before the signals reach the auditory cortex, compared to the visual system?
Is there a difference in the speed of processing required?
Vocabulary
Cochlea
Snail-shell-shaped organ that transduces mechanical vibrations into neural
signals.
Interaural differences
Differences (usually in time or intensity) between the two ears.
Pinna
Visible part of the outer ear.
Tympanic membrane
Ear drum, which separates the outer ear from the middle ear.
Reference List
Attneave, F., & Olson, R. K. (1971). Pitch as a medium: A new approach to
psychophysical scaling. American Journal of Psychology, 84, 147166.
Bendor, D., & Wang, X. (2005). The neuronal representation of pitch in primate
auditory cortex. Nature, 436, 11611165.
Bernstein, L. R., & Trahiotis, C. (2002). Enhancing sensitivity to interaural delays
at high frequencies by using "transposed stimuli." Journal of the Acoustical
Society of America, 112, 10261036.
Bregman, A. S. (1990). Auditory scene analysis: The perceptual organization of
sound. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Deutsch, D. (1979). Binaural integration of melodic patterns. Perception &
Psychophysics, 25, 399405.
Durlach, N. I., Mason, C. R., Kidd, G., Jr., Arbogast, T. L., Colburn, H. S., & ShinnCunningham, B. G. (2003). Note on informational masking. Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America, 113, 29842987.
Elhilali, M., Ma, L., Micheyl, C., Oxenham, A. J., & Shamma, S. (2009). Temporal
coherence in the perceptual organization and cortical representation of
auditory scenes. Neuron, 61, 317329.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Hearing by Andrew J. Oxenham is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To
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en_US.
Taste and Smell

Linda Bartoshuk & Derek Snyder
University of Florida
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Humans are omnivores (able to survive on many different foods).
The
omnivores dilemma is to identify foods that are healthy and avoid poisons.
Taste and smell cooperate to solve this dilemma. Stimuli for both taste and
smell are chemicals. Smell results from a biological system that essentially
permits the brain to store rough sketches of the chemical structures of odor
stimuli in the environment. Thus, people in very different parts of the world
can learn to like odors (paired with calories) or dislike odors (paired with nausea)
that they encounter in their worlds. Taste information is preselected (by the
nature of the receptors) to be relevant to nutrition. No learning is required; we
are born loving sweet and hating bitter. Taste inhibits a variety of other systems
in the brain. Taste damage releases that inhibition, thus intensifying sensations
like those evoked by fats in foods. Ear infections and tonsillectomies both can
damage taste. Adults who have experienced these conditions experience
intensified sensations from fats and enhanced palatability of high-fat foods.
This may explain why individuals who have had ear infections or tonsillectomies
tend to gain weight.
Learning Objectives
Explain the salient properties of taste and smell that help solve the
omnivores dilemma.
Distinguish between the way pleasure/displeasure is produced by smells

and tastes.
Explain how taste damage can have extensive unexpected consequences.
The Omnivore's Dilemma

Humans are omnivores. We can survive on a wide range of foods, unlike species,
such as koalas, that have a highly specialized diet (for koalas, eucalyptus leaves).
With our amazing dietary range comes a problem: the omnivores dilemma
(Pollan, 2006; Rozin & Rozin, 1981). To survive, we must identify healthy food
and avoid poisons. The senses of taste and smell cooperate to give us this
ability. Smell also has other important functions in lower animals (e.g., avoid
predators, identify sexual partners), but these functions are less important in
humans. This chapter will focus on the way taste and smell interact in humans
to solve the omnivores dilemma.
Taste and Smell Anatomy

Taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction) are both chemical senses; that is, the
stimuli for these senses are chemicals. The more complex sense is olfaction.
Olfactory receptors are complex proteins called G protein-coupled receptors
(GPCRs). These structures are proteins that weave back and forth across the
membranes of olfactory cells seven times, forming structures outside the cell
that sense odorant molecules and structures inside the cell that activate the
neural message ultimately conveyed to the brain by olfactory neurons. The
structures that sense odorants can be thought of as tiny binding pockets with
sites that respond to active parts of molecules (e.g., carbon chains). There are
about 350 functional olfactory genes in humans; each gene expresses a
particular kind of olfactory receptor. All olfactory receptors of a given kind
project to structures called glomeruli (paired clusters of cells found on both
sides of the brain). For a single molecule, the pattern of activation across the
glomeruli paints a picture of the chemical structure of the molecule. Thus, the
olfactory system can identify a vast array of chemicals present in the
environment.
Most of the odors we encounter are actually mixtures of
nobaproject.com - Taste and Smell
415
chemicals (e.g., bacon odor). The olfactory system creates an image for the
mixture and stores it in memory just as it does for the odor of a single molecule
(Shepherd, 2005).
Taste is simpler than olfaction. Bitter and sweet utilize GPCRs, just as
olfaction does, but the number of different receptors is much smaller. For
bitter, 25 receptors are tuned to different chemical structures (Meyerhof et al.,
2010). Such a system allows us to sense many different poisons.
Sweet is even simpler. The primary sweet receptor is composed of two
different G protein-coupled receptors; each of these two proteins ends in large
structures reminiscent of Venus flytraps. This complex receptor has multiple
sites that can bind different structures. The Venus flytrap endings open so that
even some very large molecules can fit inside and stimulate the receptor.
Bitter is inclusive (i.e., multiple receptors tuned to very different chemical
structures feed into common neurons). Sweet is exclusive. There are many
sugars with similar structures, but only three of these are particularly important
to humans (sucrose, glucose, and fructose). Thus, our sweet receptor tunes
out most sugars, leaving only the most important to stimulate the sweet
receptor. However, the ability of the sweet receptor to respond to some nonsugars presents us with one of the great mysteries of taste. Several non-sugar
molecules can stimulate the primary sweet receptor (e.g., saccharine,
aspartame, cyclamate).
These have given rise to the artificial sweetener
industry, but their biological significance is unknown. What biological purpose

is served by allowing these non-sugar molecules to stimulate the primary sweet
receptor?
Some would have us believe that artificial sweeteners are a boon to those
who want to lose weight. It seems like a no-brainer. Sugars have calories;
saccharin does not. Theoretically, if we replace sugar with saccharin in our
diets, we will lose weight. In fact, recent work showed that rats actually gained
weight when saccharin was substituted for glucose (Swithers & Davidson, 2008).
It turns out that substituting saccharin for sugar can increase appetite so more
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is eaten later.
In addition, eating artificial sweeteners appears to alter
metabolism, thus making losing weight even harder. So why did nature give
us artificial sweeteners? We dont know.
One more mystery about sweet deserves comment. The discovery of the
sweet receptor was met with great excitement because many investigators had
searched for it for years. The fact that this complex receptor had multiple sites
to which different molecules could bind explained why many different
molecules taste sweet. However, this is actually a serious problem. No matter
what molecule stimulates this receptor, the neural output from that receptor
is the same. This would mean that the sweetness of all sweet substances would
have to be the same. Yet artificial sweeteners do not taste exactly like sugar.
The answer may lie in the fact that one of the two proteins that makes up the
receptor can act alone, but only strong concentrations of sugar stimulate this
isolated protein receptor. This permits the brain to distinguish between the
sweetness of sugar and the sweetness of non-sugar molecules.
Salty and sour are the simplest tastes; these stimuli ionize (break into
positively and negatively charged particles). The first event in the transduction
series is the movement of the positively charged particle through channels in
the taste cell membrane (Chaudhari & Roper, 2010).
Solving the omnivores dilemma: Taste affect is hardwired

The pleasure associated with sweet and salty and the displeasure associated
with sour and bitter are hard-wired in the brain. Newborns love sweet (taste
of mothers milk) and hate bitter (poisons) immediately.
The receptors
mediating salty taste are not mature at birth in humans, but when they are
mature a few weeks after birth, the baby likes dilute salt (although more
concentrated salt will evoke stinging sensations that will be avoided). Sour is
generally disliked (protecting against tissue damage from acid?), but to the
417
amazement of many parents, some young children appear to actually like the
sour candies available today; this may be related to the breadth of their
experience with fruits (Liem & Mennella, 2003). This hard-wired affect is the
most salient characteristic of taste and this is why we classify only those taste
qualities with hard-wired affect as basic tastes.
Another contribution to the omnivores dilemma:

Olfactory affect is learned
The biological functions of olfaction depend on how odors enter our noses.
Sniffing brings odorants through our nostrils. The odorants hit the turbinate
bones and a puff of the odorized air rises to the top of the nasal cavity, where
it goes through a narrow opening (the olfactory cleft) and arrives at the olfactory
mucosa (the tissue that houses the olfactory receptors). Technically, this is
called orthonasal olfaction. Orthonasal olfaction tells us about the world
external to our bodies.
When we chew and swallow food, the odorants emitted by the food are
forced up behind the palate (roof of the mouth) and enter our noses from the
back; this is called retronasal olfaction. Ortho and retronasal olfaction involve
the same odor molecules and the same olfactory receptors; however, the brain
can tell the difference between the two and does not send the input to the same
areas. Retronasal olfaction and taste project to some common areas where
they are presumably integrated into flavor. Flavors tell us about the food we
are eating.
If retronasal olfaction is paired with nausea, the food evoking the retronasal
olfactory sensation becomes disliked. If retronasal olfaction is paired with
situations the brain deems valuable (calories, sweet taste, pleasure from other
sources, etc.), the food evoking that sensation becomes liked. These are called
conditioned aversions and preferences (Rozin & Vollmecke, 1986).
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Those who have experienced a conditioned aversion may have found that
the dislike (even disgust) evoked when a flavor is paired with nausea can
generalize to the smell of the food alone (orthonasal olfaction). Some years
ago, Jeremy Wolfe and Linda Bartoshuk surveyed conditioned aversions among
college students and staff that had resulted from consuming foods/beverages
associated with nausea (Bartoshuk & Wolfe, 1990). In 29% of the aversions,
subjects reported that even the smell of the food/beverage had become
aversive. Other properties of food objects can become aversive as well. In one
unusual case, an aversion to cheese crackers generalized to vanilla wafers
apparently because the containers were similar.
Conditioned aversions
function to protect us from ingesting a food that our brains associate with
illness. Conditioned preferences are harder to form, but they help us learn
what is safe to eat.
Is the affect associated with olfaction ever hard-wired? Pheromones are
said to be olfactory molecules that evoke specific behaviors. Googling human
pheromone will take you to websites selling various sprays that are supposed
to make one more sexually appealing. However, careful research does not
support such claims in humans or any other mammals (Doty, 2010). For
example, amniotic fluid was at one time believed to contain a pheromone that
attracted rat pups to their mothers nipples so they could suckle. Early interest
in identifying the molecule that acted as that pheromone gave way to
understanding that the behavior was learned when a novel odorant, citral
(which smells like lemons), was easily substituted for amniotic fluid (Pedersen,
Williams, & Blass, 1982).
419
Central interactions: Key to understanding taste

damage
The integration of retronasal olfaction and taste into flavor is not the only central
interaction among the sensations evoked by foods. These integrations in most
cases serve important biological functions, but occasionally they go awry and
lead to clinical pathologies.
Taste is mediated by three cranial nerves; these are bilateral nerves, each
of which innervates one side of the mouth. Since they do not connect in the
peripheral nervous system, interactions across the midline must occur in the
brain. Incidentally, studying interactions across the midline is a classic way to
draw inferences about central interactions. Insights from studies of this type
were very important to understanding central processes long before we had
direct imaging of brain function.
Taste on the anterior two thirds of the tongue (the part you can stick out) is
mediated by the chorda tympani nerve; taste on the posterior one third (the
part that stays attached) is mediated by the glossopharyngeal nerve. Taste
buds are tiny clusters of cells (like the segments of an orange) that are buried
in the tissue of some papillae, the structures that give the tongue its bumpy
appearance. Filiform papillae are the smallest and are distributed all over the
tongue; they have no taste buds. In species like the cat, the filiform papillae
are shaped like small spoons and help the cat hold liquids on the tongue while
lapping (try lapping from a dish and you will see how hard it is without those
special filiform papillae). Fungiform papillae (given this name because they
resemble small button mushrooms) are larger circular structures on the
anterior tongue (innervated by the chorda tympani). They contain about six
taste buds each. Fungiform papillae can be seen with the naked eye, but
swabbing blue food coloring on the tongue helps. The fungiform papillae do
not stain as well as the rest of the tongue so they look like pink circles against
a blue background. On some tongues, the spacing of fungiform papillae is like
420
polka dots. Other tongues can have 10 times as many fungiform papillae,
spaced so closely that there is little space between them. There is a connection
between the density of fungiform papillae and the perception of taste. Those
who experience the most intense taste sensations (we call them supertasters)
tend to have the most fungiform papillae. Incidentally, this is a rare example
in sensory processes of visible anatomical variation that correlates with
function. We can look at the tongues of a variety of individuals and predict
which of them will experience the most intense taste sensations.
The structures that house taste buds innervated by the glossopharyngeal
nerve are called circumvallate papillae. They are relatively large structures
arrayed in an inverted V shape across the back of the tongue. Each of them
looks like a small island surrounded by a moat.
Taste nerves project to the brain, where they send inhibitory signals to one
another.
One of the biological consequences of this inhibition is taste
constancy. Damage to one nerve reduces taste input but also reduces inhibition
on the other nerves (Bartoshuk et al 2005). That release of inhibition intensifies
the central neural signals from the undamaged nerves, thereby maintaining
whole mouth function.
Interestingly, this release of inhibition can be so
powerful that it actually increases whole mouth taste. The small effect of limited
taste damage is one of the earliest clinical observations. In 1825, Brillat-Savarin
described in his book The Physiology of Taste an interview with an ex-prisoner
who had suffered a horrible punishment: amputation of his tongue. This man,
whom I met in Amsterdam, where he made his living by running errands, had
had some education, and it was easy to communicate with him by writing. After
I had observed that the forepart of his tongue has been cut off clear to the
ligament, I asked him if he still found any flavor in what he ate, and if his sense
of taste had survived the cruelty to which he had been subjected. He replied
that he still possessed the ability to taste fairly well (Brillat-Savarin, 1971, pg.
35). This injury damaged the chorda tympani but spared the glossopharyngeal
nerve.
421
We now know that taste nerves not only inhibit one another but also inhibit
other oral sensations. Thus, taste damage can intensify oral touch (fats) and
oral burn (chilis). In fact, taste damage appears to be linked to pain in general.
Consider an animal injured in the wild. If pain reduced eating, its chance of
survival would be diminished. However, nature appears to have wired the brain
such that taste input inhibits pain. Eating is reinforced and the animals chances
of survival increase.
Taste damage and weight gain

The effects of taste damage depend on the extent of damage. If only one taste
nerve is damaged, then release of inhibition occurs. If the damage is extensive
enough, function is lost with one possible exception. Preliminary data suggest
that the more extensive the damage to taste, the greater the intensification of
pain; this is obviously of clinical interest.
Damage to a single taste nerve can intensify oral touch (e.g., the creamy,
viscous sensations evoked by fats). Perhaps most surprising, damage to a single
taste nerve can intensify retronasal olfaction; this may occur as a secondary
result from the intensification of whole mouth taste.
These sensory changes can alter the palatability of foods; in particular, highfat foods can be rendered more palatable. Thus one of the first areas we
examined was the possibility that mild taste damage could lead to increases in
body mass index. Middle ear infections (otitis media) can damage the chorda
tympani nerve; a tonsillectomy can damage the glossopharyngeal nerve. Head
trauma damages both nerves, although it tends to take its greatest toll on the
chorda tympani nerve. All of these clinical conditions increase body mass index
in some individuals. More work is needed, but we suspect a link between the
intensification of fat sensations, enhancement of palatability of high-fat foods,
and weight gain.
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Outside Resources
Video: Inside the Psychologists Studio with Linda Bartoshuk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO76jgepo74
Video: Linda Bartoshuk at Nobel Conference 46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4tbg_yb4Ms
Video: Test your tongue: the science of taste
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvP7xGBzZNs
1. In this chapter, we have defined basic tastes in terms of whether or not a
sensation produces hard-wired affect. Can you think of any other definitions
of basic tastes?
2. Do you think omnivores, herbivores, or carnivores have a better chance at
survival?
3. Olfaction is mediated by one cranial nerve. Taste is mediated by three cranial
nerves. Why do you think evolution gave more nerves to taste than to smell?
What are the consequences of this?
Vocabulary
Conditioned aversions and preferences
Likes and dislikes developed through associations with pleasurable or
unpleasurable sensations.
Gustation
The action of tasting; the ability to taste.
Olfaction
The sense of smell; the action of smelling; the ability to smell.
Omnivore
A person or animal that is able to survive by eating a wide range of foods from
plant or animal origin.
Orthonasal olfaction
Perceiving scents/smells introduced via the nostrils.
Retronasal olfaction
Perceiving scents/smells introduced via the mouth/palate.
Reference List
Bartoshuk, L. M., Snyder, D. J., Grushka, M., Berger, A. M., Duffy, V. B,, & Kveton,
J. F. (2005). Taste damage: previously unsuspected consequences. Chemical
Senses, 30(Suppl. 1), i218i219
Bartoshuk, L. M., & Wolfe, J. M. (1990). Conditioned taste aversions in humans:
Are they olfactory aversions? (abstract). Chemical Senses, 15, 551.
Brillat-Savarin, J. A. (1825). The physiology of taste (M.F.K. Fisher, Trans., 1971).
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Chaudhari, N., & Roper, S. D. (2010). The cell biology of taste. Journal of Cell
Biology, 190, 285296.
Doty, R. L. (2010). The great pheromone myth. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Liem, D. G., & Mennella, J. A. (2003). Heightened sour preferences during
childhood. Chemical Senses, 28(2), 173180.
Meyerhof, W., Batram, C., Kuhn, C., Brockhoff, A., Chudoba, E., Bufe, B., . . .
Behrens, M. (2010). The molecular receptive ranges of human TAS2R bitter
taste receptors. Chemical Senses, 35, 157170.
Pedersen, P.E., Williams, C.L., & Blass, E.M. (1982). Activation and odor
conditioning of suckling behavior in 3-day-old albino rats. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 8(4), 329341.
Pollan, M. (2006). The omnivore's dilemma. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Rozin, E., & Rozin, P. (1981). Culinary themes and variations. Natural History, 90,
614.
Rozin, P., & Vollmecke, T.A. (1986). Food likes and dislikes. Annual Review of
Nutrition, 6, 433-456.
Shepherd, G. M. (2005). Outline of a theory of olfactory processing and its
relevance to humans. Chemical Senses, 30(Suppl 1), i3-i5.
Swithers, S. E., & Davidson, T. L. (2008). A role for sweet taste: Calorie predictive
relations in energy regulation by rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122(1),
161-173.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Taste and Smell by Linda Bartoshuk and Derek
Snyder is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Touch and Pain

Guro E. Lseth, Dan-Mikael Ellingson & Siri Leknes
University of Oslo, University of Gothenburg
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The sensory systems of touch and pain provide us with information about our
environment and our bodies that is often crucial for survival and well-being.
Moreover, touch is a source of pleasure. In this chapter, we review how
information about our environment and our bodies is coded in the periphery
and interpreted by the brain as touch and pain sensations. We discuss how
these experiences are often dramatically shaped by top-down factors like
motivation, expectation, mood, fear, stress, and context. When wellfunctioning, these circuits promote survival and prepare us to make adaptive
decisions. Pathological loss of touch can result in perceived disconnection from
the body, and insensitivity to pain can be very dangerous, leading to maladaptive
hazardous behavior. On the other hand, chronic pain conditions, in which these
systems start signaling pain in response to innocuous touch or even in the
absence of any observable sensory stimuli, have tremendous negative impact
on the lives of the affected. Understanding how our sensory-processing
mechanisms can be modulated psychologically and physiologically promises
to help researchers and clinicians find new ways to alleviate the suffering of
chronic-pain patients.
Learning Objectives
Describe the transduction of somatosensory signals: The properties of the

receptor types as well as the difference in the properties of C-afferents and
A-afferents and what functions these are thought to have.
Describe the social touch hypothesis and the role of affective touch in
development and bonding.
Explain the motivationdecision model and descending modulation of pain,

and give examples on how this circuitry can promote survival.
Explain how expectations and context affect pain and touch experiences.
Describe the concept of chronic pain and why treatment is so difficult.
Introduction
Imagine a life free of pain. How would it becalm, fearless, serene? Would you
feel invulnerable, invincible? Getting rid of pain is a popular questa quick
search for pain-free life on Google returns well over 4 million hitsincluding
links to various bestselling self-help guides promising a pain-free life in only 7
steps, 6 weeks, or 3 minutes. Pain management is a billion-dollar market, and
involves much more than just pharmaceuticals. Surely a life with no pain would
be a better one?
nobaproject.com - Touch and Pain
432
Figure 1A: Patient with HSAN-V genetic mutation affecting pain nerve growth. Severely affected
12-year-old boy with damages to his left knee and ankles. (Minde et al., 2004)
Well, consider one of the lucky few: 12-year-old Thomas has never felt
deep pain. Not even when a fracture made him walk around with one leg shorter
than the other, so that the bones of his healthy leg were slowly crushed to
destruction underneath the knee joint (see Figure 1A). For Thomas and other
members of a large Swedish family, life without pain is a harsh reality because
of a mutated gene that affects the growth of the nerves conducting deep pain.
Most of those affected suffer from joint damage and frequent fractures to bones
in their feet and hands; some end up in wheelchairs even before they reach
puberty (Minde et al., 2004). It turns out paingenerallyserves us well.
433
Living without a sense of touch sounds less attractive than being free of pain
touch is a source of pleasure and essential to how we feel. Losing the sense
of touch has severe implicationssomething patient G. L. experienced when
an antibiotics treatment damaged the type of nerves that signal touch from her
skin and the position of her joints and muscles. She reported feeling like shed
lost her physical self from her nose down, making her disembodiedlike she
no longer had any connection to the body attached to her head. If she didnt
look at her arms and legs they could just wander off without her knowing
initially she was unable to walk, and even after she relearned this skill she was
so dependent on her visual attention that closing her eyes would cause her to
land in a hopeless heap on the floor. Only light caresses like those from her
childrens hands can make her feel she has a body, but even these sensations
remain vague and elusive (Olausson et al., 2002; Sacks, 1985).
Sensation
Cutaneous Senses of the Skin Connect the Brain to the
Body and the Outside World
Touch and pain are aspects of the somatosensory system, which provides our
brain with information about our own body (interoception) and properties of
the immediate external world (exteroception) (Craig, 2002). We have
somatosensory receptors located all over the body, from the surface of our skin
to the depth of our joints. The information they send to the central nervous
system is generally divided into four modalities: cutaneous senses (senses of
the skin), proprioception (body position), kinesthesis (body movement), and
nociception (pain, discomfort). We are going to focus on the cutaneous senses,
which respond to tactile, thermal, and pruritic (itchy) stimuli, and events that
cause tissue damage (and hence pain). In addition, there is growing evidence
434
for a fifth modality specifically channeling pleasant touch (McGlone & Reilly,
2010).
Different Receptor Types Are Sensitive to Specific Stimuli

The skin can convey many sensations, such as the biting cold of a wind, the
comfortable pressure of a hand holding yours, or the irritating itch from a
woolen scarf. The different types of information activate specific receptors that
convert the stimulation of the skin to electrical nerve impulses, a process called
transduction. There are three main groups of receptors in our skin:
mechanoreceptors, responding to mechanical stimuli, such as stroking,
stretching, or vibration of the skin; thermoreceptors, responding to cold or hot
temperatures; and chemoreceptors, responding to certain types of chemicals
either applied externally or released within the skin (such as histamine from an
inflammation). For an overview of the different receptor types and their
properties, see Box 1. The experience of pain usually starts with activation of
nociceptorsreceptors that fire specifically to potentially tissue-damaging
stimuli. Most of the nociceptors are subtypes of either chemoreceptors or
mechanoreceptors. When tissue is damaged or inflamed, certain chemical
substances are released from the cells, and these substances activate the
chemosensitive nociceptors. Mechanoreceptive nociceptors have a high
threshold for activationthey respond to mechanical stimulation that is so
intense it might damage the tissue.
435
Box 1.
Action Potentials in the Receptor Cells Travel as Nerve

Impulses with Different Speeds
When you step on a pin, this activates a host of mechanoreceptors, many of
which are nociceptors. You may have noticed that the sensation changes over
time. First you feel a sharp stab that propels you to remove your foot, and only
then you feel a wave of more aching pain. The sharp stab is signaled via fastconducting A-fibers, which project to the somatosensory cortex. This part of
the cortex is somatotopically organizedthat is, the sensory signals are
436
represented according to where in the body they stem from (see homunculus
illustration, Figure 2). The unpleasant ache you feel after the sharp pin stab is
a separate, simultaneous signal sent from the nociceptors in your foot via thin
C-pain or A-fibers to the insular cortex and other brain regions involved in
processing of emotion and interoception (see Figure 3a for a schematic
representation of this pathway). The experience of stepping on a pin is, in other
words, composed by two separate signals: one discriminatory signal allowing
us to localize the touch stimulus and distinguish whether its a blunt or a sharp
stab; and one affective signal that lets us know that stepping on the pin is bad.
It is common to divide pain into sensorydiscriminatory and affective
motivational aspects (Auvray, Myin, & Spence, 2010). This distinction
corresponds, at least partly, to how this information travels from the peripheral
to the central nervous system and how it is processed in the brain (Price, 2000).
437
Figure 2: Left - The Homunculus: Homunculus means little man, and here you see a scale
model of the human body distorted to reflect the relative space that body parts occupy in the
somatosensory cortex. As you can see, the lips, hands, feet and genitals send more
somatosensory projections to the brain than do any other body parts. Right - Cortical mapping
of the sensory homunculus: The body parts are represented in specific locations on the
somatosensory cortex. Representations map out somatotopically, with the feet located
medially and shoulders and arms laterally to the interhemispheric fissure. Facial structures
are represented in a different location to the scalp and head; the face oriented upside down
with the forehead pointing towards the shoulders.
438
Affective
Aspects
of
Touch
Are
Important
for
Development and Relationships

Touch senses are not just there for discrimination or detection of potentially
painful events, as Harlow and Suomi (1970) demonstrated in a series of
heartbreaking experiments where baby monkeys were taken from their
mothers. The infant monkeys could choose between two artificial surrogate
mothersone warm mother without food but with a furry, soft cover; and
one cold, steel mother with food. The monkey babies spent most of their time
clinging to the soft mother, and only briefly moved over to the hard, steel mother
to feed, indicating that touch is of overpowering importance to the infant
(Harlow & Suomi, 1970, p. 161). Gentle touch is central for creating and
maintaining social relationships in primates; they groom each other by stroking
the fur and removing parasitesan activity important not only for their
individual well-being but also for group cohesion (Dunbar, 2010; Keverne,
Martensz, & Tuite, 1989). Although people dont groom each other in the same
way, gentle touch is important for us, too.
The sense of touch is the first to develop while one is in the womb, and
human infants crave touch from the moment theyre born. From studies of
human orphans, we know that touch is also crucial for human development.
In Romanian orphanages where the babies were fed but not given regular
attention
or
physical
contact,
the
children
suffered
cognitive
and
neurodevelopmental delay (Simons & Land, 1987). Physical contact helps a

crying baby calm down, and the soothing touch a mother gives to her child is
thought to reduce the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. High levels of
cortisol have negative effects on neural development, and they can even lead
to cell loss (Feldman, Singer, & Zagoory, 2010; Fleming, O'Day, & Kraemer, 1999;
Pechtel & Pizzagalli, 2011). Thus, stress reduction through hugs and caresses
might be important not only for childrens well-being, but also for the
development of the infant brain.
439
The skin senses are similar across species, likely reflecting the evolutionary
advantage of being able to tell what is touching you, where its happening, and
whether or not its likely to cause tissue damage. An intriguing line of touch
research suggests that humans, cats, and other animals have a special,
evolutionarily preserved system that promotes gentle touch because it carries
social and emotional significance.On a peripheral level, this system consists of
a subtype of C-fibers that responds not to painful stimuli, but rather to gentle
stroking touchcalled C-tactile fibers. The firing rate of the C-tactile fibers
correlates closely with how pleasant the stroking feelssuggesting they are
coding specifically for the gentle caresses typical of social affiliative touch
(Lken, Wessberg, Morrison, McGlone, & Olausson, 2009). This finding has led
to the social touch hypothesis, which proposes that C-tactile fibers form a
system for touch perception that supports social bonding (Morrison, Lken, &
Olausson, 2010; Olausson, Wessberg, Morrison, McGlone, & Vallbo, 2010). The
discovery of the C-tactile system suggests that touch is organized in a similar
way to pain; fast-conducting A-fibers contribute to sensorydiscriminatory
aspects, while thin C-fibers contribute to affectivemotivational aspects (Lken,
Wessberg, Morrison, McGlone, & Olausson, 2009). However, while these hardwired afferent systems often provide us with accurate information about our
environment and our bodies, how we experience touch or pain depends very
much on top-down sources like motivation, expectation, mood, fear, and stress.
Modulation
Pain Is Necessary for Survival, but Our Brain Can Stop It
if It Needs To
440
In April 2003, the climber Aron Ralston found himself at the floor of Blue John
Canyon in Utah, forced to make an appalling choice: face a slow but certain
deathor amputate his right arm. Five days earlier he fell down the canyon
since then he had been stuck with his right arm trapped between an 800-lb
boulder and the steep sandstone wall. Weak from lack of food and water and
close to giving up, it occurred to him like an epiphany that if he broke the two
bones in his forearm he could manage to cut off the rest with his pocket knife.
The thought of freeing himself and surviving made him so exited he spent the
next 40 minutes completely engrossed in the task: first snapping his bones
using his body as a lever, then sticking his fingers into the arm, pinching bundles
of muscle fibers and severing them one by one, before cutting the blue arteries
and the pale noodle-like nerves. The pain was unimportant. Only cutting
through the thick white main nerve made him stop for a minutethe flood of
pain, he describes, was like thrusting his entire arm into a cauldron of magma.
Finally free, he rappelled down a cliff and walked another 7 miles until he was
rescued by some hikers (Ralston, 2010). How is it possible to do something so
excruciatingly painful to yourself, and still manage to walk, talk, and think
rationally afterwards? The answer lies within the brain, where signals from the
body are interpreted. When we perceive somatosensory and nociceptive signals
from the body, the experience is highly subjective and malleable by motivation,
attention, emotion, and context.
441
Figure 3: Pain processing pathways Left - Ascending pain pathways: An injury is signaled
simultaneously via fast-conducting A or A-fibres and slow-conducting C-pain or A-fibres.
The fast A-fibres signal pressure, stretching and other tissue movements to the somatosensory
cortex via the dorsal column nuclei. The C-pain and A-fibres sends pain information from
nociceptors in the tissue or skin, and transmits these signals to second order neurons in the
dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The second order neurons then cross over to the opposite side,
where they form the ascending spinothalamic tract. This tract projects signals to nuclei in the
medulla and midbrain on the way up to the thalamus (T). The thalamus relays the information
to the somatosensory and insular cortex, as well as cortical regions mediating different aspects
of the pain experience such as affective responses in the cingulate cortex. Right - Descending
pain modulation pathways: Information from the environment and certain motivational states
can activate this topdown pathway. Several areas in the limbic forebrain including the anterior
cingulate and insular cortex, nuclei in the amygdala and the hypothalamus (H), project to the
midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG), which then modulates ascending pain transmission from
the afferent pain system indirectly through the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) in the
brainstem. This modulating system produces analgesia by the release of endogenous opioids,
442
and uses ON- and OFF-cells to exert either inhibitory (green) or facilitatory (red) control of
nociceptive signals at the spinal dorsal horn.
The
MotivationDecision
Model
and
Descending
Modulation of Pain
According to the motivationdecision model, the brain automatically and
continuously evaluates the pros and cons of any situationweighing impending
threats and available rewards (Fields, 2004, 2006). Anything more important for
survival than avoiding the pain activates the brains descending pain
modulatory systema top-down system involving several parts of the brain
and brainstem, which inhibits nociceptive signaling so that the more important
actions can be attended to (Figure 3b). In Arons extreme case, his actions were
likely based on such an unconscious decision processtaking into account his
homeostatic state (his hunger, thirst, the inflammation and decay of his crushed
hand slowly affecting the rest of his body), the sensory input available (the sweet
smell of his dissolving skin, the silence around him indicating his solitude), and
his knowledge about the threats facing him (death, or excruciating pain that
wont kill him) versus the potential rewards (survival, seeing his family again).
Arons story illustrates the evolutionary advantage to being able to shut off pain:
The descending pain modulatory system allows us to go through with
potentially life-saving actions. However, when one has reached safety or
obtained the reward, healing is more important. The very same descending
system can then crank up nociception from the body to promote healing and
motivate us to avoid potentially painful actions. To facilitate or inhibit
nociceptive signals from the body, the descending pain modulatory system uses
a set of ON- or OFF-cells in the brainstem, which regulates how much of the
nociceptive signal reaches the brain. The descending system is dependent on
opioid signaling, and analgesics like morphine relieve pain via this circuit
443
(Petrovic, Kalso, Petersson, & Ingvar, 2002).
The Analgesic Power of Reward

Thinking about the good things, like his loved ones and the life ahead of him,
was probably pivotal to Arons survival. The promise of a reward can be enough
to relieve pain. Expecting pain relief (getting less pain is often the best possible
outcome if youre in pain, i.e., it is a reward) from a medical treatment
contributes to the placebo effectwhere pain relief is due at least partly to
your brains descending modulation circuit, and such relief depends on the
brains own opioid system (Eippert et al., 2009; Eippert, Finsterbusch, Bingel, &
Buchel, 2009; Levine, Gordon, & Fields, 1978). Eating tasty food, listening to
good music, or feeling pleasant touch on your skin also decreases pain in both
animals and humans, presumably through the same mechanism in the brain
(Leknes & Tracey, 2008). In a now classic experiment, Dum and Herz (1984)
either fed rats normal rat food or let them feast on highly rewarding chocolatecovered candy (rats love sweets) while standing on a metal plate until they
learned exactly what to expect when placed there. When the plate was heated
up to a noxious/painful level, the rats that expected candy endured the
temperature for twice as long as the rats expecting normal chow. Moreover,
this effect was completely abolished when the rats opioid (endorphin) system
was blocked with a drug, indicating that the analgesic effect of reward
anticipation was caused by endorphin release.
For Aron the climber, both the stress from knowing that death was
impending and the anticipation of the reward it would be to survive probably
flooded his brain with endorphins, contributing to the wave of excitement and
euphoria he experienced while he carried out the amputation like a five-yearold unleashed on his Christmas presents (Ralston, 2010). This altered his
experience of the pain from the extreme tissue damage he was causing and
enabled him to focus on freeing himself. Our brain, it turns out, can modulate
444
the perception of how unpleasant pain is, while still retaining the ability to
experience the intensity of the sensation (Rainville, Duncan, Price, Carrier, &
Bushnell, 1997; Rainville, Feine, Bushnell, & Duncan, 1992). Social rewards, like
holding the hand of your boyfriend or girlfriend, have pain-reducing effects.
Even looking at a picture of him/her can have similar effectsin fact, seeing a
picture of a person we feel close to not only reduces subjective pain ratings,
but also the activity in pain-related brain areas (Eisenberger et al., 2011). The
most common things to do when wanting to help someone through a painful
experiencebeing present and holding the persons handthus seems to have
a measurably positive effect.
When Touch Becomes Painful or Pain Becomes Chronic

Chances are youve been sunburned a few times in your life and have
experienced how even the lightest pat on the back or the softest clothes can
feel painful on your over-sensitive skin. This condition, where innocuous touch
gives a burning, tender sensation, is similar to a chronic condition called
allodyniawhere neuronal disease or injury makes touch that is normally
pleasant feel unpleasantly painful. In allodynia, neuronal injury in the spinal
dorsal horn causes A-afferents, which are activated by non-nociceptive touch,
to access nociceptive pathways (Liljencrantz et al., 2013). The result is that even
gentle touch is interpreted by the brain as painful. While an acute pain response
to noxious stimuli has a vital protective function, allodynia and other chronic
pain conditions constitute a tremendous source of unnecessary suffering that
affects millions of people. Approximately 100 million Americans suffer from
chronic pain, and annual economic cost associated is estimated to be $560
$635 billion (Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, & Institute of
Medicine, 2011). Chronic pain conditions are highly diverse, and they can involve
changes on peripheral, spinal, central, and psychological levels. The
mechanisms are far from fully understood, and developing appropriate
445
treatment remains a huge challenge for pain researchers.

Chronic pain conditions often begin with an injury to a peripheral nerve or
the tissue surrounding it, releasing hormones and inflammatory molecules that
sensitize nociceptors. This makes the nerve and neighboring afferents more
excitable, so that also uninjured nerves become hyperexcitable and contribute
to the persistence of pain. An injury might also make neurons fire nonstop
regardless of external stimuli, providing near-constant input to the pain system.
Sensitization can also happen in the brain and in the descending modulatory
system of the brainstem (Zambreanu, Wise, Brooks, Iannetti, & Tracey, 2005).
Exactly on which levels the pain perception is altered in chronic pain patients
can be extremely difficult to pinpoint, making treatment an often exhausting
process of trial and error. Suffering from chronic pain has dramatic impacts on
the lives of the afflicted. Being in pain over a longer time can lead to depression,
anxiety (fear or anticipation of future pain), and immobilization, all of which
may in turn exacerbate pain (Wiech & Tracey, 2009). Negative emotion and
attention to pain can increase sensitization to pain, possibly by keeping the
descending pain modulatory system in facilitation mode. Distraction is
therefore a commonly used technique in hospitals where patients have to
undergo painful treatments like changing bandages on large burns. For chronic
pain patients, however, diverting attention is not a long-term solution. Positive
factors like social support can reduce the risk of chronic pain after an injury,
and so they can help to adjust to bodily change as a result of injury. We haveve
already talked about how having a hand to hold might alleviate suffering.
Chronic pain treatment should target these emotional and social factors as well
as the physiological.
446
The Power of the Mind

The context of pain and touch has a great impact on how we interpret it. Just
imagine how different it would feel to Aron if someone amputated his hand
against his will and for no discernible reason. Prolonged pain from injuries can
be easier to bear if the incident causing them provides a positive contextlike
a war wound that testifies to a soldiers courage and commitmentor phantom
pain from a hand that was cut off to enable life to carry on. The relative meaning
of pain is illustrated by a recent experiment, where the same moderately painful
heat was administered to participants in two different contextsone control
context where the alternative was a nonpainful heat; and another where the
alternative was an intensely painful heat. In the control context, where the
moderate heat was the least preferable outcome, it was (unsurprisingly) rated
as painful. In the other context it was the best possible outcome, and here the
exact same moderately painful heat was actually rated as pleasantbecause
it meant the intensely painful heat had been avoided. This somewhat surprising
change in perceptionwhere pain becomes pleasant because it represents
relief from something worsehighlights the importance of the meaning
individuals ascribe to their pain, which can have decisive effects in pain
treatment (Leknes et al., 2013). In the case of touch, knowing who or what is
stroking your skin can make all the differencetry thinking about slugs the next
time someone strokes your skin if you want an illustration of this point. In a
recent study, a group of heterosexual males were told that they were about to
receive sensual caresses on the leg by either a male experimenter or by an
attractive female experimenter (Gazzola et al., 2012). The study participants
could not see who was touching them. Although it was always the female
experimenter who performed the caress, the heterosexual males rated the
otherwise pleasant sensual caresses as clearly unpleasant when they believed
the male experimenter did it. Moreover, brain responses to the male touch in
somatosensory cortex were reduced, exemplifying how top-down regulation of
447
touch resembles top-down pain inhibition.

Pain and pleasure not only share modulatory systemsanother common
attribute is that we dont need to be on the receiving end of it ourselves in order
to experience it. How did you feel when you read about Aron cutting through
his own tissue, or Thomas destroying his own bones unknowingly? Did you
cringe? Its quite likely that some of your brain areas processing affective aspects
of pain were active even though the nociceptors in your skin and deep tissue
were not firing. Pain can be experienced vicariously, as can itch, pleasurable
touch, and other sensations. Tania Singer and her colleagues found in an fMRI
study that some of the same brain areas that were active when participants felt
pain on their own skin (anterior cingulate and insula) were also active when
they were given a signal that a loved one was feeling the pain. Those who were
most empathetic also showed the largest brain responses (Singer et al., 2004).
A similar effect has been found for pleasurable touch: The posterior insula of
participants watching videos of someone elses arm being gently stroked shows
the same activation as if they were receiving the touch themselves (Morrison,
Bjornsdotter, & Olausson, 2011).
Summary
Sensory experiences connect us to the people around us, to the rest of the
world, and to our own bodies. Pleasant or unpleasant, theyre part of being
human. In this chapter, we have seen how being able to inhibit pain responses
is central to our survivaland in cases like that of climber Aron Ralston, that
ability can allow us to do extreme things. We have also seen how important the
ability to feel pain is to our healthillustrated by young Thomas, who keeps
injuring himself because he simply doesnt notice pain. While Thomas has to
learn to avoid harmful activities without the sensory input that normally guides
us, G. L. has had to learn how to keep approaching and move about in a world
she can hardly feel at all, with a body that is practically disconnected from her
448
awareness. Too little sensation or too much of it leads to no good, no matter

how pleasant or unpleasant the sensation usually feels. As long as we have
nervous systems that function normally, we are able to adjust the volume of
the sensory signals and our behavioral reactions according to the context were
in. When it comes to sensory signals like touch and pain, we are interpreters,
not measuring instruments. The quest for understanding how our sensory
processing mechanisms can be modulated, psychologically and physiologically,
promises to help researchers and clinicians find new ways to alleviate distress
from chronic pain.
449
Outside Resources
Book: Butler, D. S., Moseley, G. L., & Sunyata. (2003). Explain pain (p. 19).
Australia: Noigroup.
Book: Kringelbach, M. L., & Berridge, K. C. (Eds.). (2010). Pleasures of the brain
(p. 343). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Book: Ralston, A. (2004). Between a rock and a hard place: The basis of the
motion picture 127 Hours. New York, NY: Atria.
Book: Sacks, O. (1998). The man who mistook his wife for a hat: And other
clinical tales. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Video: BBC Documentary series Human Senses, Episode 3: Touch and Vision
http://watchdocumentary.org/watch/human-senses-episode-03-touch-and-visionvideo_f3e33c14a.html
Video: BBC Documentary Pleasure and Pain with Michael Mosley

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y377q
Video: TEDxAdelaide - Lorimer Moseley Why Things Hurt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwd-wLdIHjs
Video: Trailer for the film 127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle and released
in 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ
Web: Homepage for the International Association for the Study of Pain
http://www.iasp-pain.org
Web: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Colloquium "The
Neurobiology of Pain"
http://www.pnas.org/content/96/14.toc#COLLOQUIUM
Web: Stanford School of Medicine Pain Management Center
http://paincenter.stanford.edu/
Website resource aiming to communicate advances and issues in the clinical
sciences as they relate to the role of the brain and mind in chronic pain
disorders, led by Dr. Lorimer Moseley
http://www.bodyinmind.org/
1. Your friend has had an accident and there is a chance the injury might cause
pain over a prolonged period. How would you support your friend? What
would you say and do to ease the pain, and why do you think it would work?
2. We have learned that touch and pain sensation in many aspects do not
reflect objectively the outside world or the body state. Rather, these
experiences are shaped by various top-down influences, and they can even
occur without any peripheral activation. This is similar to the way other
sensory systems work, e.g., the visual or auditory systems, and seems to
reflect a general way the brain process sensory events. Why do you think
the brain interprets the incoming sensory information instead of giving a
one-to-one readout the way a thermometer and other measuring
instruments would? Imagine you instead had direct unbiased access
between stimuli and sensation. What would be the advantages and
disadvantages of this?
3. Feelings of pain or touch are subjectivethey have a particular quality that
you perceive subjectively. How can we know whether the pain you feel is
similar to the pain I feel? Is it possible that modern scientists can objectively
measure such subjective feelings?
Vocabulary
A-fibers
Fast-conducting sensory nerves with myelinated axons. Larger diameter and
thicker myelin sheaths increases conduction speed. A-fibers conduct touch
signals from low-threshold mechanoreceptors with a velocity of 80 m/s and a
diameter of 10 m; A-fibers have a diameter of 2.5 m and conduct cold,
noxious, and thermal signals at 12 m/s. The third and fastest conducting A-fiber
is the A, which conducts proprioceptive information with a velocity of 120 m/
s and a diameter of 20 m.
Allodynia
Pain due to a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain, e.g., when a light,
stroking touch feels painful.
Analgesia
Pain relief.
C-fibers
C-fibers: Slow-conducting unmyelinated thin sensory afferents with a diameter
of 1 m and a conduction velocity of approximately 1 m/s. C-pain fibers convey
noxious, thermal, and heat signals; C-tactile fibers convey gentle touch, light
stroking.
Chronic pain
Persistent or recurrent pain, beyond usual course of acute illness or injury;
sometimes present without observable tissue damage or clear cause.
C-pain or A-fibers
C-pain fibers convey noxious, thermal, and heat signals
C-tactile fibers
C-tactile fibers convey gentle touch, light stroking
Cutaneous senses
The senses of the skin: tactile, thermal, pruritic (itchy), painful, and pleasant.
Descending pain modulatory system

A top-down pain-modulating system able to inhibit or facilitate pain. The
pathway produces analgesia by the release of endogenous opioids. Several
brain structures and nuclei are part of this circuit, such as the frontal lobe areas
of the anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and insular cortex; and
nuclei in the amygdala and the hypothalamus, which all project to a structure
in the midbrain called the periaqueductal grey (PAG). The PAG then controls
ascending pain transmission from the afferent pain system indirectly through
the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) in the brainstem, which uses ON- and
OFF-cells to inhibit or facilitate nociceptive signals at the spinal dorsal horn.
Endorphin
An endogenous morphine-like peptide that binds to the opioid receptors in the
brain and body; synthesized in the bodys nervous system.
Exteroception
The sense of the external world, of all stimulation originating from outside our
own bodies.
Interoception
The sense of the physiological state of the body. Hunger, thirst, temperature,
pain, and other sensations relevant to homeostasis. Visceral input such as heart
rate, blood pressure, and digestive activity give rise to an experience of the
bodys internal states and physiological reactions to external stimulation. This
experience has been described as a representation of the material me, and
it is hypothesized to be the foundation of subjective feelings, emotion, and selfawareness.
Nociception
The neural process of encoding noxious stimuli, the sensory input from
nociceptors. Not necessarily painful, and crucially not necessary for the
experience of pain.
Nociceptors
High-threshold sensory receptors of the peripheral somatosensory nervous
system that are capable of transducing and encoding noxious stimuli.
Nociceptors send information about actual or impending tissue damage to the
brain. These signals can often lead to pain, but nociception and pain are not
the same.
Noxious stimulus
A stimulus that is damaging or threatens damage to normal tissues.
Ocial touch hypothesis
Proposes that social touch is a distinct domain of touch. C-tactile afferents form
a special pathway that distinguishes social touch from other types of touch by
selectively firing in response to touch of social-affective relevance; thus sending
affective information parallel to the discriminatory information from the Afibers. In this way, the socially relevant touch stands out from the rest as having
special positive emotional value and is processed further in affect-related brain

areas such as the insula.
Pain
Defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with
actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage,
according to the International Association for the Study of Pain.
Phantom pain
Pain that appears to originate in an amputated limb.
Placebo effect
Effects from a treatment that are not caused by the physical properties of a
treatment but by the meaning ascribed to it. These effects reflect the brains
own activation of modulatory systems, which is triggered by positive
expectation or desire for a successful treatment. Placebo analgesia is the most
well-studied placebo effect and has been shown to depend, to a large degree,
on opioid mechanisms. Placebo analgesia can be reversed by the
pharmacological blocking of opioid receptors. The word placebo is probably
derived from the Latin word placebit (it will please).
Sensitization
Increased responsiveness of nociceptive neurons to their normal input and/or
recruitment of a response to normally subthreshold inputs. Clinically,
sensitization may only be inferred indirectly from phenomena such as
hyperalgesia or allodynia. Sensitization can occur in the central nervous system
(central sensitization) or in the periphery (peripheral sensitization).
Social touch hypothesis

Proposes that social touch is a distinct domain of touch. C-tactile afferents form
a special pathway that distinguishes social touch from other types of touch by
selectively firing in response to touch of social-affective relevance; thus sending
affective information parallel to the discriminatory information from the Afibers. In this way, the socially relevant touch stands out from the rest as having
special positive emotional value and is processed further in affect-related brain
areas such as the insula.
Somatosensory cortex
Consists of primary sensory cortex (S1) in the postcentral gyrus in the parietal
lobes and secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), which is defined functionally
and found in the upper bank of the lateral sulcus, called the parietal operculum.
Somatosensory cortex also includes parts of the insular cortex.
Somatotopically organized
When the parts of the body that are represented in a particular brain region
are organized topographically according to their physical location in the body
(see homunculus illustration).
Spinothalamic tract
Runs through the spinal cords lateral column up to the thalamus. C-fibers enter
the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and form a synapse with a neuron that then
crosses over to the lateral column and becomes part of the spinothalamic tract.
Transduction
The mechanisms that convert stimuli into electrical signals that can be
transmitted and processed by the nervous system. Physical or chemical
stimulation creates action potentials in a receptor cell in the peripheral nervous
system, which is then conducted along the axon to the central nervous system.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Touch and Pain by Guro E. Lseth, Dan-Mikael
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The Vestibular System

Dora Angelaki & J. David Dickman
Baylor College of Medicine
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The vestibular system functions to detect head motion and position relative to
gravity and is primarily involved in the fine control of visual gaze, posture,
orthostasis, spatial orientation, and navigation. Vestibular signals are highly
processed in many regions of the brain and are involved in many essential
functions. In this chapter, we provide an overview of how the vestibular system
works and how vestibular signals are used to guide behavior.
Learning Objectives
Define the basic structures of
the vestibular receptor system.
Describe the neuroanatomy of
the vestibuloocular, vestibulospinal, and
vestibulo-thalamo-cortical
Describe the vestibular
Describe the different
pathways.
commissural system.
multisensory cortical areas for motion perception.
Introduction
Remember the dizzy feeling you got as a child after you jumped off the merrygo-round or spun around like a top? These feelings result from activation of
the vestibular system, which detects our movements through space but is not
a conscious sense like vision or hearing. In fact, most vestibular functions are
imperceptible, but vestibular-related sensations such as motion sickness can
pop up rapidly when riding on a roller coaster, having a bumpy plane ride, or
a sailing a boat in rough seas. However, these sensations are really side effects
and the vestibular system is actually extremely important for everyday activities,
with vestibular signals being involved in much of the brains information
processing that controls such fundamental functions as balance, posture, gaze
stabilization, spatial orientation, and navigation, to name a few. In many regions
of the brain, vestibular information is combined with signals from the other
senses as well as with motor information to give rise to motion perception,
body awareness, and behavioral control. Here, we will explore the workings of
the vestibular system and consider some of the integrated computations the
brain performs using vestibular signals to guide our common behavior.
Structure of the vestibular receptors

The vestibular receptors lie in the inner ear next to the auditory cochlea. They
detect rotational motion (head turns), linear motion (translations), and tilts of
the head relative to gravity and transduce these motions into neural signals
that can be sent to the brain. There are five vestibular receptors in each ear
(Hearing Chapter, Figure 1- ), including three semicircular canals (horizontal,
anterior, and posterior) that transduce rotational angular accelerations and two
otolith receptors (utricle and saccule) that transduce linear accelerations
(Lindeman, 1969). Together, the semicircular canals and otolith organs can
respond to head motion and maintained static head position relative to gravity
nobaproject.com - The Vestibular System
468
in all directions in 3D space.

These receptors are contained in a series of interconnected fluid filled tubes
that are protected by a dense, overlying bone (Iurato, 1967). Each of the three
semicircular canals lies in a plane that is orthogonal to the other two. The
horizontal semicircular canal lies in a roughly horizontal head plane, whereas
the anterior and posterior semicircular canals lie vertically in the head (Blanks,
Curthoys, Bennett, & Markham, 1985). The semicircular canal receptor cells,
termed hair cells, are located only in the middle of the circular tubes in a special
epithelium, covered by a gelatinous membrane that stretches across the tube
to form a fluid-tight seal like the skin of a drum (Figures 1A and 1B). Hair cells
are so named due to an array of nearly 100 staggered-height stereocilia (like a
church pipe organ) that protrude from the top of the cell into the overlying
gelatin membrane (Wersll, 1956). The shortest stereocilia are at one end of
the cell and the tallest at the other (Lindeman, 1969). When the head is rotated,
the fluid in the semicircular canals lags behind the head motion and pushes on
the gelatin membrane, which bends the stereocilia.
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Figure 1. Receptor hair cells and semicircular canal structure. A) Vestibular hair cell in
the receptor epithelium with stereocilia in the apical surface of the cell. Innervating afferent
and efferent neurons make synaptic contacts with the basal surface of the cell. B) Semicircular
canal structure showing the fluid duct, the hair cell stereocilia embedded in a gelatinous
membrane on top of the hair cells, and the innervating afferent fibers.
As shown in Figure 2, when the head moves toward the receptor hair cells
(e.g., left head turns for the left horizontal semicircular canal), the stereocilia
are bent toward the tallest end and special mechanically gated ion channels in
the tips of the cilia open, which excites (depolarizes) the cell (Shotwell, Jacobs,
& Hudspeth, 1981). Head motion in the opposite direction causes bending
toward the smallest stereocilia, which closes the channels and inhibits
(hyperpolarizes) the cell. The left and right ear semicircular canals have opposite
polarity, so for example, when you turn your head to the left, the receptors in
the left horizontal semicircular canal will be excited while right ear horizontal
canal receptors will be inhibited (Figure 3). The same relationship is true for
470
the vertical semicircular canals. Vestibular afferent nerve fibers innervate the
base of the hair cell and increase or decrease their neural firing rate as the
receptor cell is excited or inhibited (Dickman and Correia, 1989), respectively,
and then carry these signals regarding head rotational motion to the brain as
part of the vestibulocochlear nerve (Cranial nerve VIII). They enter the brainstem
and terminate in the ipsilateral vestibular nuclei, cerebellum, and reticular
formation (Carleton & Carpenter, 1984; Dickman & Fang, 1996). The primary
vestibular hair cell and afferent neurotransmitters are glutamate and aspartate.
Due to the mechanical properties of the vestibular receptor system, rotational
accelerations of the head are integrated into velocity signals (Van Egmond,
Groen, & Jongkess, 1949) that are then encoded by semicircular canal afferents
(Fernandez & Goldberg, 1971). Detection thresholds for rotational motion have
shown that afferents can discriminate differences in head velocity on the order
of 2 deg/sec, but also are sensitive to a broad range of natural head movements
up to high head speeds in the hundreds of deg/sec (as you might experience
when you make a fast head turn toward a loud sound, or are performing
gymnastics; Sadeghi, Chacron, Taylor, & Cullen, 2007; Yu, Dickman, & Angelaki,
2012).
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Figure 2. Vestibular receptor cell directional selectivity. Middle) At rest, hair cells release
some neurotransmitter, producing a high, spontaneous firing rate in the innervating afferent
fibers. Left) When the stereocilia are displaced toward the kinocilium, the cell is depolarized
and the afferent firing rate is increased. Right) When the stereocilia are displaced away from
the kinocilium, the cell is hyperpolarized and the afferent firing rate is decreased
472
Figure 3. Receptor hair cells in the otolith organs. Receptor cells have stereocilia
embedded in the gelatinous membrane, which is covered by thousands of calcium carbonite
otoconia. Receptor cells are polarized in opposite directions relative to a central location and
are innervated by VIIIth nerve afferent fibers.
Otolith receptors are sensitive to linear accelerations and tilts of the head
relative to gravity (Fernandez & Goldberg, 1976a). The utricle otolith receptor
lies parallel to the horizontal semicircular canal and the saccule receptor lies
vertical in the head (Hearing Chapter, Figure 1- ). As shown in Figure 4, a special
473
otolith epithelium contains receptor hair cells whose stereocilia extend into a
gelatin membrane that is covered by a layer of calcium carbonate crystals,
termed otoconia, like rocks piled up to form a jetty (Lindeman, 1969). Otoconia
are not affected by fluid movements but instead are displaced by linear
accelerations, including translations (e.g., forward/backward or upward/
downward motions) or changes in head position relative to gravity. These linear
accelerations produce displacements of the otoconia (due to their high mass),
much like rocks rolling down a hill or your coffee cup falling off the car dashboard
when you push the gas pedal. Movements of the otoconia bend the hair cell
stereocilia and open/close channels in a similar way to that described for the
semicircular canals. However, otolith hair cells are polarized such that the tallest
stereocilia are pointing toward the center of the utricle and away from the center
in the saccule, which effectively splits the receptors into two opposing groups
(Flock, 1964; Lindeman, 1969). In this way, some hair cells are excited and some
inhibited for each linear motion force or head tilt experienced, with the
population of receptors and their innervating afferents being directionally
tuned to all motions or head tilts in 3D space (Fernandez & Goldberg, 1976b).
474
Figure 4. Vestibular response to horizontal plane head rotation. A) When the head is
stationary, afferent fibers on both the sides of the head have equivalent firing so there is no
sense of motion. B) When the head turns to the left, all of the left horizontal semicircular
canal hair cells are excited and afferent fibers increase their firing rate. Conversely, right
horizontal canal afferents decrease their firing rate
All vestibular hair cells and afferents receive connections from vestibular
efferents, which are fibers projecting from the brain out to the vestibular
receptor organs, whose function is not well understood. It is thought that
efferents control the sensitivity of the receptor (Boyle, Carey, & Highstein, 1991).
The primary efferents neurotransmitter is acetylcholine (Anniko & Arnold,
1991).
475
The vestibular nuclei

The vestibular nuclei comprise a large set of neural elements in the brainstem
that receive motion and other multisensory signals, then regulate movement
responses and sensory experience. Many vestibular nuclei neurons have
reciprocal connections with the cerebellum that form important regulatory
mechanisms for the control of eye movements, head movements, and posture.
There are four major vestibular nuclei that lie in the rostral medulla and caudal
pons of the brainstem; all receive direct input from vestibular afferents (Brodal,
1984; Precht & Shimazu, 1965).
Many of these nuclei neurons receive
convergent motion information from the opposite ear through an inhibitory

commissural pathway that uses gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as a
neurotransmitter (Kasahara & Uchino, 1974; Shimazu & Precht, 1966). The
commissural pathway is highly organized such that cells receiving horizontal
excitatory canal signals from the ipsilateral ear will also receive contralateral
inhibitory horizontal canal signals from the opposite ear This fact gives rise to
a push-pull vestibular function, whereby directional sensitivity to head
movement is coded by opposing receptor signals. Because vestibular nuclei
neurons receive information from bilateral inner ear receptors and because
they maintain a high spontaneous firing rate (nearly 100 impulses/sec), they
are thought to act to compare the relative discharge rates of left vs. right canal
afferent firing activity. For example, during a leftward head turn, left brainstem
nuclei neurons receive high firing-rate information from the left horizontal canal
and low firing-rate information from the right horizontal canal. The comparison
of activity is interpreted as a left head turn. Similar nuclei neuron responses
exist when the head is pitched or rolled, with the vertical semicircular canals
being stimulated by the rotational motion in their sensitivity planes. However,
the opposing push-pull response from the vertical canals occurs with the
anterior semicircular canal in one ear and the co-planar posterior semicircular
canal of the opposite ear. Damage or disease that interrupts inner ear signal
476
information from one side of the head can change the normal resting activity
in the VIIIth nerve afferent fibers and will be interpreted by the brain as a head
rotation, even though the head is stationary. These effects often lead to illusions
of spinning or rotating that can be quite upsetting and may produce nausea or
vomiting. However, over time the commissural fibers provide for vestibular
compensation, a process by which the loss of unilateral vestibular receptor
function is partially restored centrally and behavioral responses, such as the
vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) and postural responses, mostly recover (Beraneck
et al., 2003; Fetter & Zee, 1988,; Newlands, Hesse, Haque, & Angelaki, 2001;
Newlands & Perachio, 1990).
In addition to the commissural pathway, many vestibular nuclei neurons
receive proprioceptive signals from the spinal cord regarding muscle movement
and position, visual signals regarding spatial motion, other multisensory (e.g.,
trigeminal) signals, and higher order signals from the cortex. It is thought that
the cortical inputs regulate fine gaze and postural control, as well as suppress
the normal compensatory reflexes during motion in order to elicit volitional
movements.
Of special significance are convergent signals from the
semicircular canal and otolith afferents that allow central vestibular neurons
to compute specific properties of head motion (Dickman & Angelaki, 2002). For
example, Einstein (1907) showed that linear accelerations are equivalent
whether they arise from translational motion or from tilts of the head relative
to gravity. The otolith receptors cannot discriminate between the two, so how
is it that we can tell the difference between when we are translating forward
and tilting backward, where the linear acceleration signaled by the otolith
afferents is the same? Vestibular nuclei and cerebellar neurons use convergent
signals from both the semicircular canals and the otolith receptors to
discriminate between tilt and translation, and as a result, some cells encode
head tilt (Zhou, 2006) while other cells encode translational motion (Angelaki,
Shaikh, Green, & Dickman, 2004).
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Vestibuloocular system
The vestibular system is responsible for controlling gaze stability during motion
(Crane & Demer, 1997). For example, if we want to read the sign in a store
window while walking by, we must maintain foveal fixation on the words while
compensating for the combined rotational and translational head movements
incurred during our stride. The vestibular system regulates compensatory eye,
neck, spinal, and limb movements in order to maintain gaze (Keshner &
Peterson, 1995). One of the major components contributing to gaze stability
is the VOR, which produces reflexive eye movements that are equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction to the perceived head motion in 3D space
(Wilson et al., 1995). The VOR is so accurate and fast that it allows people to
maintain visual fixation on objects of interest while experiencing demanding
motion conditions, such as running, skiing, playing tennis, and driving. In fact,
gaze stabilization in humans has been shown to be completely compensatory
(essentially perfect) for most natural behaviors. To produce the VOR, vestibular
neurons must control each of the six pairs of eye muscles in unison through a
specific set of connections to the oculomotor nuclei (Ezure & Graf, 1984). The
anterior and posterior semicircular canals along with the saccule control vertical
and torsional (turning of the eye around the line of sight) eye movements, while
the horizontal canals and the utricle control horizontal eye movements.
To understand how the VOR works, lets take the example of the
compensatory response for a leftward head turn while reading the words on a
computer screen. The basic pathway consists of horizontal semicircular canal
afferents that project to specific neurons in the vestibular nuclei. These nuclei
cells, in turn, send an excitatory signal to the contralateral abducens nucleus,
which projects through the sixth cranial nerve to innervate the lateral rectus
muscle (Figure 5). Some abducens neurons send an excitatory projection back
across the midline to a subdivision of cells in the ipsilateral oculomotor nucleus,
which, in turn, projects through the third cranial nerve to innervate the right
478
(ipsilateral) medial rectus muscle. When a leftward head turn is made, the left
horizontal canal vestibular afferents will increase their firing rate and
consequently increase the activity of vestibular nuclei neurons projecting to the
opposite (contralateral) right abducens nucleus. The abducens neurons
produce contraction of the right lateral rectus and, through a separate cell
projection to the left oculomotor nucleus, excite the left medial rectus muscles.
In addition, matching bilateral inhibitory connections relax the left lateral rectus
and right medial rectus eye muscles. The resulting rightward eye movement
for both eyes stabilizes the object of interest upon the retina for greatest visual
acuity.
479
Figure 5.
Vestibuloocular reflex.
During a leftward head turn, the left horizontal
semicircular canal receptors are excited, while the right ear receptors are inhibited. The left
excitatory signals excite vestibular nuclei neurons. These cells project across the brain to
excite motor neurons in the right abducens nucleus (VI) that excite the lateral rectus muscle
of the right eye and to cells in the oculomotor nucleus (III) that excite the medial rectus muscle
of the left eye. This moves both eyes to the right to exactly match the leftward head movement
and stabilize visual gaze upon a target of interest. The right ear inhibitory signals cross to
neurons in the left vestibular nucleus that decrease their firing rate. These cells are inhibitory
and decrease their firing rate to further increase the response of rightward motor eye muscle
480
cells.
During linear translations, a different type of VOR also occurs (Paige &
Tomko, 1991). For example, sideways motion to the left results in a horizontal
rightward eye movement to maintain visual stability on an object of interest.
In a similar manner, vertical updown head movements (such as occur while
walking or running) elicit oppositely directed vertical eye movements (Angelaki,
McHenry, & Hess, 2000). For these reflexes, the amplitude of the translational
VOR depends on viewing distance. This is due to the fact that the vergence
angle (i.e., the angle between the lines of sight for each eye) varies as a function
of the inverse of the distance to the viewed visual object (Schwarz, Busettini, &
Miles, 1989). Visual objects that are far away (2 meters or more) require no
vergence angle, but as the visual objects get closer (e.g., when holding your
finger close to your nose), a large vergence angle is needed. During translational
motion, the eyes will change their vergence angle as the visual object moves
from close to farther away (or vice versa). These responses are a result of
activation of the otolith receptors, with connections to the oculomotor nuclei
similar to those described above for the rotational vestibuloocular reflex. With
tilts of the head, the resulting eye movement is termed torsion, and consists of
a rotational eye movement around the line of sight that is in the direction
opposite to the head tilt. As mentioned above, there are major reciprocal
connections between the vestibular nuclei and the cerebellum. It has been well
established that these connections are crucial for adaptive motor learning in
the vestibuloocular reflex (Lisberger, Pavelko, & Broussard, 1994).
481
Vestibulo-spinal network
There are two vestibular descending pathways that regulate body muscle
responses to motion and gravity, consisting of the lateral vestibulo-spinal tract
(LVST) and the medial vestibulo-spinal tract (MVST). Reflexive control of head
and neck muscles arises through the neurons in the medial vestibulospinal tract
(MVST). These neurons comprise the rapid vestibulocollic reflex (VCR) that
serves to stabilize the head in space and participates in gaze control (Peterson,
Goldber, Bilotto, & Fuller, 1985).
The MVST neurons receive input from
vestibular receptors and the cerebellum, and somatosensory information from

the spinal cord. MVST neurons carry both excitatory and inhibitory signals to
innervate neck flexor and extensor motor neurons in the spinal cord. For
example, if one trips over a crack in the pavement while walking, MVST neurons
will receive downward and forward linear acceleration signals from the otolith
receptors and forward rotation acceleration signals from the vertical
semicircular canals. The VCR will compensate by providing excitatory signals
to the dorsal neck flexor muscles and inhibitory signals to the ventral neck
extensor muscles, which moves the head upward and opposite to the falling
motion to protect it from impact.
The LVST comprises a topographic organization of vestibular nuclei cells that
receive substantial input from the cerebellum, proprioceptive inputs from the
spinal cord, and convergent afferent signals from vestibular receptors. LVST
fibers project ipsilateral to many levels of motor neurons in the cord to provide
coordination of different muscle groups for postural control (Shinoda, Sugiuchi,
Futami, Ando, & Kawasaki, 1994). LVST neurons contain either acetylcholine or
glutamate as a neurotransmitter and exert an excitatory influence upon
extensor muscle motor neurons. For example, LVST fibers produce extension
of the contralateral axial and limb musculature when the body is tilted sideways.
These actions serve to stabilize the bodys center of gravity in order to preserve
upright posture.
482
Vestibulo-autonomic control
Some vestibular nucleus neurons send projections to the reticular formation,
dorsal pontine nuclei, and nucleus of the solitary tract. These connections
regulate breathing and circulation through compensatory vestibular autonomic
responses that stabilize respiration and blood pressure during body motion
and changes relative to gravity. They may also be important for induction of
motion sickness and emesis.
Vestibular signals in the thalamus and cortex

The cognitive perception of motion, spatial orientation, and navigation through
space arises through multisensory information from vestibular, visual, and
somatosensory signals in the thalamus and cortex (Figure 6A). Vestibular nuclei
neurons project bilaterally to the several thalamic regions. Neurons in the
ventral posterior group respond to either vestibular signals alone, or to
vestibular plus somatosensory signals, and projects to primary somatosensory
cortex (area 3a, 2v), somatosensory association cortex, posterior parietal cortex
(areas 5 and 7), and the insula of the temporal cortex (Marlinski & McCrea, 2008;
Meng, May, Dickman, & Angelaki, 2007). The posterior nuclear group (PO), near
the medial geniculate body, receives both vestibular and auditory signals as
well as inputs from the superior colliculus and spinal cord, indicating an
integration of multiple sensory signals. Some anterior pulvinar neurons also
respond to motion stimuli and project to cortical area 3a, the posterior insula,
and the temporo-parietal cortex (PIVC). In humans, electrical stimulation of the
thalamic areas produces sensations of movement and sometimes dizziness.
Area 2v cells respond to motion, and electrical stimulation of this area in
humans produces sensations of moving, spinning, or dizziness. Area 3a lies at
the base of the central sulcus adjacent to the motor cortex and is thought to
be involved in integrative motor control of the head and body (Guldin, Akbarian,
483
& Grusser, 1992). Neurons in the PIVC are multisensory, responding to body
motion, somatosensory, proprioceptive, and visual motion stimuli (Chen,
DeAngelis, & Angelaki, 2011; Grusser, Pause, & Schreiter, 1982). PIVC and areas
3a and 2v are heavily interconnected. Vestibular neurons also have been
observed in the posterior parietal cortex; in area 7, in the ventral intraparietal
area (VIP), the medial intraparietal area (MIP), and the medial superior temporal
area (MST). VIP contains multimodal neurons involved in spatial coding. MIP
and MST neurons respond to body motion through space by multisensory
integration of visual motion and vestibular signals (Gu, DeAngelis, & Angelaki ,
2007) and many MST cells are directly involved in heading perception (Gu,
Watkins, Angelaki, & DeAngelis, 2006). Lesions of the parietal cortical areas can
result in confusions in spatial awareness. Finally, areas involved with the control
of saccades and pursuit eye movements, including area 6, area 8, and the
superior frontal gyrus, receive vestibular signals (Fukushima, Sato, Fukushima,
Shinmei, & Kaneko, 2000). How these different cortical regions contribute to
our perception of motion and spatial orientation is still not well understood.
484
485
Figure 6. Cortical regions of the brain known to be involved with vestibular processing.
A) The frontal eye fields control eye movements and receive vestibular motion information.
Areas 2v and 3a are somatosensory areas that map body location and movement signals.
Area PIVC responds to body and head motion information. The posterior parietal cortex is
involved with motion perception and responds to both visual and vestibular motion cues. B)
The hippocampus and parahippocampul regions are involved with spatial orientation and
navigation functions. All receive vestibular signals regarding body and head motion.
Spatial orientation and navigation

Our ability to know where we are and to navigate different spatial locations is
essential for survival. It is believed that a cognitive map of our environment is
created through exploration and then used for spatial orientation and
navigation, such as driving to the store, or walking through a dark house
(McNaughton, Battaglia, Jensen, Moser, & Moser, 2006). Cells in the limbic
system and the hippocampus that contribute to these functions have been
identified, including place cells, grid cells, and head direction cells (Figure 6B).
Place cells in the hippocampus encode specific locations in the environment
(OKeefe, 1976). Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex encode spatial maps in a
tessellated pattern (Hafting, Fyhn, Molden, Moser, & Moser, 2005). Head
direction cells in the anterior-dorsal thalamus encode heading direction,
independent of spatial location (Taube, 1995). It is thought that these cell types
work together to provide for spatial orientation, spatial memory, and our ability
to navigate. Both place cells and head direction cells depend upon a functioning
vestibular system to maintain their directional and orientation information
(Stackman, Clark, & Taube, 2002). The pathway by which vestibular signals reach
the navigation network is not well understood; however, damage to the
vestibular system, hippocampus, and dorsal thalamus regions often disrupts
our ability to orient in familiar environments, navigate from place to place, or
even to find our way home.
486
Motion sickness
Although a number of conditions can produce motion sickness, it is generally
thought that it is evoked from a mismatch in sensory cues between vestibular,
visual, and proprioceptive signals (Yates, Miller, & Lucot, 1998). For example,
reading a book in a car on a winding road can produce motion sickness, whereby
the accelerations experienced by the vestibular system do not match the visual
input. However, if one looks out the window at the scenery going by during the
same travel, no sickness occurs because the visual and vestibular cues are in
alignment. Sea sickness, a form of motion sickness, appears to be a special
case and arises from unusual vertical oscillatory and roll motion. Human studies
have found that low frequency oscillations of 0.2 Hz and large amplitudes (such
as found in large seas during a storm) are most likely to cause motion sickness,
with higher frequencies offering little problems.
Summary
Here, we have seen that the vestibular system transduces and encodes signals
about head motion and position with respect to gravity, information that is then
used by the brain for many essential functions and behaviors. We actually
understand a great deal regarding vestibular contributions to fundamental
reflexes, such as compensatory eye movements and balance during motion.
More recent progress has been made toward understanding how vestibular
signals combine with other sensory cues, such as vision, in the thalamus and
cortex to give rise to motion perception. However, there are many complex
cognitive abilities that we know require vestibular information to function, such
as spatial orientation and navigation behaviors, but these systems are only just
beginning to be investigated. Future research regarding vestibular system
function will likely be geared to seeking answers to questions regarding how
the brain copes with vestibular signal loss. In fact, according to the National
487
Institutes of Health, nearly 35% of Americans over the age of 40 (69 million
people) have reported chronic vestibular-related problems. It is therefore of
significant importance to human health to better understand how vestibular
cues contribute to common brain functions and how better treatment options
for vestibular dysfunction can be realized.
488
1. If a person sustains loss of the vestibular receptors in one ear due to disease
or trauma, what symptoms would the person suffer? Would the symptoms
be permanent?
2. Often motion sickness is relieved when a person looks at far distance
objects, such as things located on the far horizon. Why does far distance
viewing help in motion sickness while close distance view (like reading a
map or book) make it worse?
3. Vestibular signals combine with visual signals in certain areas of cortex and
assist in motion perception. What types of cues does the visual system
provide for self motion through space? What types of vestibular signals
would be consistent with rotational versus translational motion?
Vocabulary
Abducens nucleus
A group of excitatory motor neurons in the medial brainstem that send
projections through the VIth cranial nerve to control the ipsilateral lateral rectus
muscle. In addition, abducens interneurons send an excitatory projection
across the midline to a subdivision of cells in the ipsilateral oculomotor nucleus,
which project through the IIIrd cranial nerve to innervate the ipsilateral medial
rectus muscle.
Acetylcholine
An organic compound neurotransmitter consisting of acetic acid and choline.
Depending upon the receptor type, acetycholine can have excitatory, inhibitory,
or modulatory effects.
Afferent nerve fibers

Single neurons that innervate the receptor hair cells and carry vestibular signals
to the brain as part of the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII).
Aspartate
An excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter that is widely used by vestibular
receptors, afferents, and many neurons in the brain.
Compensatory reflexes
A stabilizing motor reflex that occurs in response to a perceived movement,
such as the vestibuloocular reflex, or the postural responses that occur during
running or skiing.
Depolarized
When receptor hair cells have mechanically gated channels open, the cell
increases its membrane voltage, which produces a release of neurotransmitter
to excite the innervating nerve fiber.
Detection thresholds
The smallest amount of head motion that can be reliably reported by an
observer.
Directional tuning
The preferred direction of motion that hair cells and afferents exhibit where a
peak excitatory response occurs and the least preferred direction where no
response occurs. Cells are said to be tuned for a best and worst direction of
motion, with in-between motion directions eliciting a lesser but observable
response.
Gamma-aminobutyric acid
A major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the vestibular commissural system.
Gaze stability
A combination of eye, neck, and head responses that are all coordinated to
maintain visual fixation (fovea) upon a point of interest.
Glutamate
An excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter that is widely used by vestibular
receptors, afferents, and many neurons in the brain.
Hair cells
The receptor cells of the vestibular system. They are termed hair cells due to
the many hairlike cilia that extend from the apical surface of the cell into the
gelatin membrane. Mechanical gated ion channels in the tips of the cilia open
and close as the cilia bend to cause membrane voltage changes in the hair cell
that are proportional to the intensity and direction of motion.
Hyperpolarizes
When receptor hair cells have mechanically gated channels close, the cell
decreases
its
membrane
voltage,
which
produces
less
release
of
neurotransmitters to inhibit the innervating nerve fiber.

Lateral rectus muscle
An eye muscle that turns outward in the horizontal plane.
Lateral vestibulo-spinal tract
Vestibular neurons that project to all levels of the spinal cord on the ipsilateral
side to control posture and balance movements.
Mechanically gated ion channels
Ion channels located in the tips of the stereocilia on the receptor cells that open/
close as the cilia bend toward the tallest/smallest cilia, respectively. These
channels are permeable to potassium ions, which are abundant in the fluid
bathing the top of the hair cells.
Medial vestibulo-spinal tract
Vestibular nucleus neurons project bilaterally to cervical spinal motor neurons
for head and neck movement control. The tract principally functions in gaze
direction and stability during motion.
Neurotransmitters
A chemical compound used to send signals from a receptor cell to a neuron, or
from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters can be excitatory, inhibitory,
or modulatory and are packaged in small vesicles that are released from the
end terminals of cells.
Oculomotor nuclei
Includes three neuronal groups in the brainstem, the abducens nucleus, the
oculomotor nucleus, and the trochlear nucleus, whose cells send motor
commands to the six pairs of eye muscles.
Oculomotor nucleus
A group of cells in the middle brainstem that contain subgroups of neurons
that project to the medial rectus, inferior oblique, inferior rectus, and superior
rectus muscles of the eyes through the 3rd cranial nerve.
Otoconia
Small calcium carbonate particles that are packed in a layer on top of the gelatin
membrane that covers the otolith receptor hair cell stereocilia.
Otolith receptors
Two inner ear vestibular receptors (utricle and saccule) that transduce linear
accelerations and head tilt relative to gravity into neural signals that are then
transferred to the brain.
Proprioceptive
Sensory information regarding muscle position and movement arising from
receptors in the muscles, tendons, and joints.
Semicircular canals
A set of three inner ear vestibular receptors (horizontal, anterior, posterior) that
transduce head rotational accelerations into head rotational velocity signals
that are then transferred to the brain. There are three semicircular canals in
each ear, with the major planes of each canal being orthogonal to each other.
Stereocilia
Hairlike projections from the top of the receptor hair cells. The stereocilia are
arranged in ascending height and when displaced toward the tallest cilia, the
mechanical gated channels open and the cell is excited (depolarized). When
the stereocilia are displaced toward the smallest cilia, the channels close and
the cell is inhibited (hyperpolarized).
Torsion
A rotational eye movement around the line of sight that consists of a clockwise
or counterclockwise direction.
Vergence angle
The angle between the line of sight for the two eyes. Low vergence angles
indicate far-viewing objects, whereas large angles indicate viewing of near
objects.
Vestibular compensation
Following injury to one side of vestibular receptors or the vestibulocochlear
nerve, the central vestibular nuclei neurons gradually recover much of their
function through plasticity mechanisms. The recovery is never complete,
however, and extreme motion environments can lead to dizziness, nausea,
problems with balance, and spatial memory.
Vestibular efferents
Nerve fibers originating from a nucleus in the brainstem that project from the
brain to innervate the vestibular receptor hair cells and afferent nerve terminals.
Efferents have a modulatory role on their targets, which is not well understood.
Vestibular system
Consists of a set of motion and gravity detection receptors in the inner ear, a
set of primary nuclei in the brainstem, and a network of pathways carrying
motion and gravity signals to many regions of the brain.
Vestibulocochlear nerve
The VIIIth cranial nerve that carries fibers innervating the vestibular receptors
and the cochlea.
Vestibuloocular reflex
Eye movements produced by the vestibular brainstem that are equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction to head motion. The VOR functions to
maintain visual stability on a point of interest and is nearly perfect for all natural
head movements.
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Time and Culture

Robert V. Levine
California State University, Fresno
nobaproject.com
Abstract
There are profound cultural differences in how people think about, measure,
and use their time. This chapter describes some major dimensions of time that
are most prone to cultural variation.
Learning Objectives
Understand how cultures differ in the views of time and the importance of
these differences for social behavior.
Explore major components of social time.
Use these concepts to better understand the hidden dimensions of culture.
Introduction
It is said that time is money in industrialized economies. Workers are paid by
the hour, lawyers charge by the minute, and advertising is sold by the second
(US$3.3 million for a 30-second commercial, or a little over $110,000 per second,
for the 2012 Super Bowl). Remarkably, the civilized mind has reduced time
the most obscure and abstract of all intangiblesto the most objective of all
quantities: money. With time and things on the same value scale, we can
establish how many of our working hours equal the price of a product in a store.
This way of thinking about time is not universal, however. Beliefs about time
remain profoundly different from culture to culture. Research shows that
cultural differences in time can be as vast as those between languages. In one
particularly telling study of the roots of culture shock, Spradley and Phillips
asked a group of returning Peace Corps volunteers to rank 33 items concerning
the amount of cultural adjustment each had required of them. The list included
a wide range of items familiar to fearful travelers, such as the type of food
eaten, the personal cleanliness of most people, the number of people of
your own race, and the general standard of living. But aside from mastering
the foreign language, the two greatest difficulties for the Peace Corps volunteers
were concerned with social time: the general pace of life, followed by one of
its most significant components, how punctual most people are (Spradley &
Phillips, 1972).
Half a century ago anthropologist Edward Hall described cultural rules of
social time as the silent language (Hall, 1983). These informal patterns of
time are seldom, if ever, made explicit. They exist in the air around us. They
are either familiar and comfortable or unfamiliar and wrong. The world over,
children simply pick up their societys conceptions of early and late, of waiting
and rushing, of the past, the present, and the future, as they mature. No
dictionary clearly defines these rules of time for them or for strangers who
stumble over the maddening incongruities between the time sense they bring
nobaproject.com - Time and Culture
507
with them and the one they face in a new land.

Cultures may differ on many aspects of social timeits value, meaning, how
it should be divided, allocated, and measured. The following dimensions are
particularly prone to different cultural, as well as individual, interpretations:
Work Versus Leisure

There are cultural differences in the value placed on work, on leisure, and upon
the balance between the two. Although some balance is universal, the preferred
formulas differ both across cultures and between individuals in each culture.
The differences are marked even within highly industrialized countries, The
United States and Japan are famous for long work hours, as exemplified by the
terms workaholic and karoshi (death by overwork) (Levine, 1997).
European nations tend to also emphasize work, with many differences among
countries, but generally put greater emphasis on preserving nonwork time than
do people in the United States and Japan (Levine, 2012).
Time spent within the workplace also varies across cultures. People tend to
spend more of their work time on-task in some cultures and more of that time
socializinginformal chatting, having tea or coffee with others, etc.in other
cultures. Studies have found wide cultural variation in answers to the question:
In the companies for which you have worked, what percent of time do people
typically spend on tasks that are part of their job description. For example,
people working in companies in large cities in the United States tend to report
in the range of 80 percent task time, 20 percent social time. On the other hand,
people working in companies in India, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, and some
Latin American countries tend to give answers closer to 50 percent task time,
50 percent social time (Brislin and Kim, 2003).
508
Sequence
Each culture sets rules concerning the appropriate sequence of tasks and
activities. Is it work before play, or vice versa? Do people take all of their sleep
at night, or is there a siesta in the midafternoon? Is one expected to have coffee
or tea and socialize, and for how long, before getting down to serious business?
There are also customs about sequences over the long run. For example, how
long is the socially accepted period of childhood, if it exists at all, and when is
it time to assume the responsibilities of an adult?
Clock and Event Time

The most fundamental difference in timekeeping throughout history has been
between people operating by the clock and those who measure time by social
events (Lauer, 1981). This profound difference in thinking about time continues
to divide cultures today. Under clock time, the hour on the timepiece governs
the beginning and ending of activities. Under event time, scheduling is
determined by the flow of the activity. Events begin and end when, by mutual
consensus, participants feel the time is right (Levine, 1997).
In event-time societies, modes of time-reckoning tend to express social
experience. Sometimes activities occur in finely coordinated sequences, but
without observing the clock. For example, anthropologists have described how
participants at an Indian wake move from gathering time to prayer time, singing
time, intermission, and mealtime. They move by consensual feelingwhen the
time feels rightbut with no apparent concern for the time on the clock.
Many countries exhort event time as a philosophy of life. In East Africa, there
is a popular adage that Even the time takes its time. In Trinidad, it is commonly
said that Any time is Trinidad time (Birth, 1999). In the United States and much
of Europe, by contrast, the right way to measure time is assumed to be by the
clock. This is especially true when it comes to work hours. Time is money, and
509
any time not focused on-task is seen as wasted time.

Even the language of time may be more or less event-oriented. The Kachin
people of North Burma, for example, have no single word equivalent of time.
They use the word ahkying to refer to the time of the clock, na to a long time,
tawng to a short time, ta to springtime, and asak to the time of a persons
life. Whereas, clock time cultures treat time as an objective entityit is a noun
in Englishthe Kachin words for time are treated more like adverbs (Levine,
1997).
These different ways of time-keeping can often lead to cultural
misunderstandings. Individuals operating on clock time are careful to be
punctual and expect the same of others. Those on event time are more
spontaneous in beginning and ending events and, as a result, tend to be less
punctual and more understanding when others are less punctual.
There are also differences within cultureson both the individual and
situational levels. To take just one example, some workers may prosper under
clearly defined schedules while others may prefer to complete their work on
their own schedules. Similarly, some jobs (for example, financial traders)
demand clock-time precision while others (for example, some creative arts)
thrive on the spontaneity of event-time scheduling. Levine (2012) argues for
fluency in both approaches and to recognize when either is more beneficial.
Calendars
Many cultures use social activities to define their calendars rather than the
other way around. The calendars of the Nuer people from the Upper Nile in the
Sudan, for example, are based on the seasonal changes in their environment.
They know that the month of kur is occurring because they are building their
fishing dams and cattle camps. When they break camp and return to their
villages, they know it must now be the month of dwat.
510
Most societies have some type of week, but it is not always seven days long.
The Muysca of Columbia had a three-day week. The Incas of Peru had a 10-day
week. Often the length of the week reflects cycles of activities, rather than the
other way around. For many, the market is the main activity requiring group
coordination. The Khasi people hold their markets every eighth day.
Consequently, they have made their week eight days long and named the days
of the week after the places where the main markets occur (Levine, 2005).
Polychronic and Monochronic Time

Industrial/organizational
psychologists
emphasize
the
significance
of
monochronic versus polychronic work patterns (Bluedorn, 2002). People and

organizations in clock-time cultures are more likely to emphasize monochronic
(M-time) approaches, meaning they like to focus on one activity at a time. People
in event time cultures, on the other hand, tend to emphasize polychronic (Ptime) approaches, meaning they prefer to do several things at once. These
labels were originally developed by Hall (1983). M-time people like to work from
start to finish in linear sequence: The first task is begun and completed before
turning to another, which is then begun and completed. In polychronic time,
however, one project goes on until there is an inclination or inspiration to turn
to another, which may lead to an idea for another, then back to first, with
intermittent and unpredictable pauses and reassumptions of one task or
another. Progress on P-time occurs a little at a time on each task.
P-time cultures are characterized by a strong involvement with people. They
emphasize the completion of human transactions rather than keeping to
schedules. For example, two P-time individuals who are deep in conversation
will typically choose to arrive late for their next appointment rather than cut
into the flow of their discussion. Both would be insulted, in fact, if their partner
were to abruptly terminate the conversation before it came to a spontaneous
511
conclusion.
Levine (2012) argues for the value of shifting between each approach
depending on the characteristics of the individuals and the situations involved.
In a corporation, for example, some positions may require tight scheduling of
time (e.g., accountants during tax time). On the other hand, employees in
research and development may be most productive when less tightly controlled.
Silence and Doing Nothing

In some cultures, notably the United States and Western Europe, silence makes
people uncomfortable. It may denote nothing is happening or that something
is going wrong. The usual response is to say something, to fill the silence or to
keep the meeting or conversation going. People in other cultures, including
many Asian and Pacific Island nations, are quite comfortable with silence. It is
seen as an opportunity to focus inward and gather ones thoughts before you
speak. The Japanese emphasize ma, which roughly translates as the space
between things, or the pause. It implies that what happens between things,
or what doesnt seem to be happening, is as or more important than what is
visibly happening. As an extreme example, consider a question people in Brunei
often begin their day by asking: What isnt going to happen today?
Brislin (2000) has described how cultural misunderstandings and
counterproductive decisions often arise from these differences. For example,
Americans will sometimes misinterpret long periods of silence as a signal that
they should make a concession. Their negotiating counterparts in Asia know
this and will sometimes prolong their silence in the expectation that a
concession will be made.
A related temporal difference concerns what people perceive as wasted
time. People, cultures, and economies that emphasize the rule that time is
money may see any time not devoted to tangible production as wasted time.
People in other cultures, however, believe that overemphasis on this rule is a
512
waste of ones time in a larger sense, that it is a wasteful way to spend ones
life. If something more worthy of ones attentionbe it social- or work-related
challenges a planned schedule, it is seen as wasteful to not deviate from the
planned schedule. In fact, the term wasted time may make little sense. A
typical comment may be, There is no such thing as wasted time. If you are not
doing one thing, you are doing something else (Levine, 1997).
Norms Concerning Waiting

Cultures differ in their norms for waiting, not only how long it is appropriate to
keep a person waiting but how the rules change depending on the situation
and the people involved. Levine (1997) describes a number of rules to waiting
and how these rules differ in various cultures. Some useful questions: Are the
rules based on the principle that time is money? Who is expected to wait for
whom, under what circumstances, and for how long? Are some individuals
by virtue of their status, power, and/or wealthexempt from waiting? What is
the protocol for waiting in line? Is it an orderly procedure, as in the United
Kingdom, or do people just nudge their way through the crowd, pushing the
people ahead of them, until they somehow make their way to the front, as in
India? Is there a procedure for buying oneself a place in front, or off the line
completely? What social message is being sent when the accepted rules are
broken?
Temporal Orientation
There are individual and cultural differences in peoples orientation toward the
past, present, and future. Zimbardo and Boyd (2008) have developed a scale
that distinguishes between six types of temporal frames:
1. Past negativea pessimistic, negative, or aversive orientation toward the
513
past.
2. Past positivea warm, sentimental, nostalgic, and positive construction of
the past.
3. Present hedonistichedonistic orientation attitude toward time and life.
4. Present fatalistica fatalistic, helpless, and hopeless attitude toward the
future and life.
5. Futureplanning for, and achievement of, future goals, characterizing a
general future orientation.
6. Future transcendentalan orientation to the future beyond ones own
death.
Zimbardo and Boyd have found large individual and cultural differences on
both the individual subscales and the patterns of the subscales taken together.
They describe a wide range of consequences of these differences. Time
perspective affects political, economic, personal, social, environmental, and
other domains of life and society. One of the paradoxes, they report, is that
each particular temporal perspective is associated with numerous personal
and social benefits but that, in excess, they are associated with even greater
costs. There are both positive and negative processes associated with each
perspective. Individuals who focus on the past, for example, are often described
with terms such as happy, grateful, patriotic, high self-esteem, and having strong
personal values; on the other hand, past time perspective can be associated
with terms such as depressed, guilty, angry and revengeful, and resistant to
change. Similarly, a focus on the present may be associated with strong social
514
affiliations, joy, sensuality, sexuality, energy, and improvisation; but it may also
be associated with violence, anger, over-fatalism, risk-taking, and addictive
behavior. A focus on the future may be associated with achievement, selfefficacy, healthy behaviors, and hope for change; but also with anxiety, social
isolation, competitiveness, and unhealthy physical consequences ranging from
coronary artery disease to sexual impotence. The authors argue for the
importance of a healthy balance in ones temporal orientation.
The Pace of Life

There are profound differences in the pace of life on many levelsindividual
temperament, cultural norms, between places, at different times, during
different activities. Levine and Norenzayan (1999) conducted a series of field
experiments measuring walking speed, work speed, and concern with clock
time in countries around the world. They found that the characteristic pace of
life of a place has consequencesboth positive and negativefor the physical,
social, economic, and psychological well-being of people who live there. The
optimal pace, they argue, requires flexibility and sensitivity to matching
individual preferences to the requirements of the situation.
Conclusion
Understanding the values and assumptions a culture places on these temporal
dimensions is essential to creating policies that enhance the quality of peoples
lives. The historian Lewis Mumford once observed how each culture believes
that every other space and time is an approximation to or perversion of the
real space and time in which it lives. The truth, however, is there is no single
correct way to think about time. There are different ways of thinking, each with
their pluses and minuses, and all may be of value in given situations.
515
Outside Resources
Video: Dealing with Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSvC3i4Sqp4
Video: RSA AnimateThe Secret Powers of Time
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg&feature=related
1. Can you give an example of Edward Halls notion of time as a silent
language?
2. Can you give an example of clock time in your own life? Can you give an
example of event time?
3. Are there activities where you might benefit from another cultures approach
to time rather than your usual approach? Give an example.
4. What do you think are the consequences, both positive and negative, of a
faster pace of life?
5. Is it fair to conclude that some cultural time practices are more advanced
than others? That some are healthier than others? Explain.
Vocabulary
Clock time
Scheduling activities according to the time on the clock.
Ma
Japanese way of thinking that emphasizes attention to the spaces between
things rather than the things themselves.
Monochronic (M-time)
Monochronic thinking focuses on doing one activity, from beginning to
completion, at a time.
Pace of life
The frequency of events per unit of time; also referred to as speed or tempo.
Polychronic (P-time)
Polychronic thinking switches back and forth among multiple activities as the
situation demands.
Silent language
Cultural norms of time and time use as they pertain to social communication
and interaction.
Social time
Scheduling by the flow of the activity. Events begin and end when, by mutual
consensus, participants feel the time is right.
Temporal perspective
The extent to which we are oriented toward the past, present, and future.
Reference List
Birth, K. (1999). Any time is Trinidad time: Social meanings and temporal
consciousness. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
Bluedorn, A. (2002). The human organization of time: Temporal realities and
experience. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Business Books.
Brislin, R. (2000). Understanding cultures influence on behavior (2nd ed.). Fort
Worth, TX: Harcourt.
Brislin, R., & Kim, E. (2003). Cultural diversity in peoples understanding and uses
of time. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 52(3), 363382.
Hall, E. T. (1983). The dance of life: The other dimension of time. Garden City:
Anchor Press.
Lauer, R. (1981). Temporal man: The meaning and uses of social time. New York,
NY: Praeger.
Levine, R. (2012). Time use and happiness: Implications for social policy. Thimpu,
Bhutan: Centre for Bhutanese Studies.
Levine, R. (2005). A geography of busyness. Social Research, 72, 355370.
Levine, R. (1997). A geography of time. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Levine, R., & Norenzayan, A. (1999). The pace of life in 31 countries. Journal of
Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 178205.
Spradley, J. P., & Phillips, M. (1972). Culture and stress: A quantitative analysis.
American Anthropologist, 74, 518 529.
Zimbardo, P., & Boyd, J. (2008). The time paradox. New York, NY: Simon &
Schuster.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Time and Culture by Robert V. Levine is licensed
deed.en_US.
Failures of Awareness: The

Case of Inattentional
Blindness
Daniel Simons
nobaproject.com
Abstract
We think important objects and events in our world will automatically grab our
attention, but they often dont, particularly when our attention is focused on
something else. The failure to notice unexpected objects or events when
attention is focused elsewhere is now known as inattentional blindness. The
study of such failures of awareness has a long history, but their practical
importance has received increasing attention over the past decade. This chapter
describes the history and status of research on inattentional blindness,
discusses the reasons why we find these results to be counterintuitive, and the
implications of failures of awareness for how we see and act in our world.
Learning Objectives
Learn about inattentional blindness and why it occurs.
Identify ways in which failures of awareness are counterintuitive.
Better understand the link between focused attention and failures of

awareness.
Do you regularly spot editing errors in movies? Can you multitask effectively,
texting while talking with your friends or watching television? Are you fully aware
of your surroundings? If you answered yes to any of those questions, youre not
alone. And, youre most likely wrong.
More than 50 years ago, experimental psychologists began documenting
the many ways that our perception of the world is limited, not by our eyes and
ears, but by our minds. We appear able to process only one stream of
information at a time, effectively filtering other information from awareness.
To a large extent, we perceive only that which receives the focus of our cognitive
efforts: our attention.
Imagine the following task, known as dichotic listening (e.g., Cherry, 1953;
Moray, 1959; Treisman, 1960): You put on a set of headphones that play two
completely different speech streams, one to your left ear and one to your right
ear. Your task is to repeat each syllable spoken into your left ear as quickly and
accurately as possible, mimicking each sound as you hear it. When performing
this attention-demanding task, you wont notice if the speaker in your right ear
switches to a different language or is replaced by a different speaker with a
similar voice. You wont notice if the content of their speech becomes
nonsensical. In effect, you are deaf to the substance of the ignored speech. But,
that is not because of the limits of your auditory senses. It is a form of cognitive
deafness, due to the nature of focused, selective attention. Even if the speaker
on your right headphone says your name, you will notice it only about one-third
of the time (Conway, Cowan, & Bunting, 2001). And, at least by some accounts,
you only notice it that often because you still devote some of your limited
attention to the ignored speech stream (Holendar, 1986). In this task, you will
tend to notice only large physical changes (e.g., a switch from a male to a female
speaker), but not substantive ones, except in rare cases.
nobaproject.com - Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness
526
This selective listening task highlights the power of attention to filter

extraneous information from awareness while letting in only those elements
of our world that we want to hear. Focused attention is crucial to our powers
of observation, making it possible for us to zero in on what we want to see or
hear while filtering out irrelevant distractions. But, it has consequences as well:
We can miss what would otherwise be obvious and important signals.
The same pattern holds for vision. In a groundbreaking series of studies in
the 1970s and early 1980s, Neisser and his colleagues devised a visual analogue
of the dichotic listening task (Neisser & Becklen, 1975). Their subjects viewed a
video of two distinct, but partially transparent and overlapping, events. For
example, one event might involve two people playing a hand-clapping game
and the other might show people passing a ball. Because the two events were
partially transparent and overlapping, both produced sensory signals on the
retina regardless of which event received the participants attention. When
participants were asked to monitor one of the events by counting the number
of times the actors performed an action (e.g., hand clapping or completed
passes), they often failed to notice unexpected events in the ignored video
stream (e.g., the hand-clapping players stopping their game and shaking hands).
As for dichotic listening, the participants were unaware of events happening
outside the focus of their attention, even when looking right at them. They could
tell that other stuff was happening on the screen, but many were unaware of
the meaning or substance of that stuff.
To test the power of selective attention to induce failures of awareness,
Neisser and colleagues (Neisser, 1979) designed a variant of this task in which
participants watched a video of two teams of players, one wearing white shirts
and one wearing black shirts. Subjects were asked to press a key whenever the
players in white successfully passed a ball, but to ignore the players in black.
As for the other videos, the teams were filmed separately and then
superimposed so that they literally occupied the same space (they were partially
transparent). Partway through the video, a person wearing a raincoat and
527
carrying an umbrella strolled through the scene. People were so intently

focused on spotting passes that they often missed the umbrella woman. (Pro
tip: If you look closely at the video, youll see that Ulric Neisser plays on both
the black and white teams.)
These surprising findings were well known in the field, but for decades,
researchers dismissed their implications because the displays had such an odd,
ghostly appearance. Of course, we would notice if the displays were fully opaque
and vivid rather than partly transparent and grainy. Surprisingly, no studies
were built on Neissers method for nearly 20 years. Inspired by these
counterintuitive findings and after discussing them with Neisser himself,
Christopher Chabris and I revisited them in the late 1990s (Simons & Chabris,
1999). We replicated Neissers work, again finding that many people missed the
umbrella woman when all of the actors in the video were partially transparent
and occupying the same space. But, we added another wrinkle: a version of the
video in which all of the actions of both teams of players were choreographed
and filmed with a single camera. The players moved in and around each other
and were fully visible. In the most dramatic version, we had a woman in a gorilla
suit walk into the scene, stop to face the camera, thump her chest, and then
walk off the other side after nine seconds on screen. Fully half the observers
missed the gorilla when counting passes by the team in white.
This phenomenon is now known as inattentional blindness, the surprising
failure to notice an unexpected object or event when attention is focused on
something else (Mack & Rock, 1998). The past 15 years has seen a surge of
interest in such failures of awareness, and we now have a better handle on the
factors that cause people to miss unexpected events as well as the range of
situations in which inattentional blindness occurs. People are much more likely
to notice unexpected objects that share features with the attended items in a
display (Most et al., 2001). For example, if you count passes by the players
wearing black, you are more likely to notice the gorilla than if you count passes
by the players wearing white because the color of the gorilla more closely
528
matches that of the black-shirted players (Simons & Chabris, 1999). However,
even unique items can go unnoticed. In one task, people monitored black
shapes and ignored white shapes that moved around a computer window (Most
et al., 2001). Approximately 30 percent of them failed to detect the bright red
cross traversing the display, even though it was the only colored item and was
visible for five seconds.
Another crucial influence on noticing is the effort you put into the attentiondemanding task. If you have to keep separate counts of bounce passes and
aerial passes, you are less likely to notice the gorilla (Simons & Chabris, 1999),
and if you are tracking faster moving objects, you are less likely to notice (Simons
& Jensen, 2009). You can even miss unexpected visual objects when you devote
your limited cognitive resources to a memory task (Fougnie & Marois, 2007), so
the limits are not purely visual. Instead, they appear to reflect limits on the
capacity of attention. Without attention to the unexpected event, you are
unlikely to become aware of it (Mack & Rock, 1998; Most, Scholl, Clifford, &
Simons, 2005).
Inattentional blindness is not just a laboratory curiosityit also occurs in
the real world and under more natural conditions. In a recent study (Chabris,
Weinberger, Fontaine, & Simons, 2011), Chabris and colleagues simulated a
famous police misconduct case in which a Boston police officer was convicted
of lying because he claimed not to have seen a brutal beating (Lehr, 2009). At
the time, he had been chasing a murder suspect and ran right past the scene
of a brutal assault. In Chabris simulation, subjects jogged behind an
experimenter who ran right past a simulated fight scene. At night, 65 percent
missed the fight scene. Even during broad daylight, 44 percent of observers
jogged right passed it without noticing, lending some plausibility to the Boston
cops story that he was telling the truth and never saw the beating.
529
Perhaps more importantly, auditory distractions can induce real-world

failures to see. Although people believe they can multitask, few can. And, talking
on a phone while driving or walking decreases situation awareness and
increases the chances that people will miss something important (Strayer &
Johnston, 2001). In a dramatic illustration of cell phoneinduced inattentional
blindness, Ira Hymen observed that people talking on a cell phone as they
walked across a college campus were less likely than other pedestrians to notice
a unicycling clown who rode across their path (Hyman, Boss, Wise, McKenzie,
& Caggiano, 2011).
Recently, the study of this sort of awareness failure has returned to its roots
in studies of listening, with studies documenting inattentional deafness: When
listening to a set of spatially localized conversations over headphones, people
often fail to notice the voice of a person walking through the scene repeatedly
stating I am a gorilla (Dalton & Fraenkel, 2012). Under conditions of focused
attention, we see and hear far less of the unattended information than we might
expect (Macdonald & Lavie, 2011; Wayand, Levin, & Varakin, 2005).
We now have a good understanding of the ways in which focused attention
affects the detection of unexpected objects falling outside that focus. The
greater the demands on attention, the less likely people are to notice objects
falling outside their attention (Macdonald & Lavie, 2011; Simons & Chabris,
1999; Simons & Jensen, 2009). The more like the ignored elements of a scene,
the less likely people are to notice. And, the more distracted we are, the less
likely we are to be aware of our surroundings. Under conditions of distraction,
we effectively develop tunnel vision.
Despite this growing understanding of the limits of attention and the factors
that lead to more or less noticing, we have relatively less understanding of
individual differences in noticing (Simons & Jensen, 2009). Do some people
consistently notice the unexpected while others are obliviously unaware of their
surroundings? Or, are we all subject to inattentional blindness due to structural
limits on the nature of attention? The question remains controversial. A few
530
studies suggest that those people who have a greater working memory capacity
are more likely to notice unexpected objects (Hannon & Richards, 2010;
Richards, Hannon, & Derakshan, 2010). In effect, those who have more
resources available when focusing attention are more likely to spot other
aspects of their world. However, other studies find no such relationship: Those
with greater working memory capacity are not any more likely to spot an
unexpected object or event (Seegmiller, Watson, & Strayer, 2011; Bredemeier
& Simons, 2012). There are theoretical reasons to predict each pattern. With
more resources available, people should be more likely to notice (see
Macdonald & Lavie, 2011). However, people with greater working memory
capacity also tend to be better able to maintain their focus on their prescribed
task, meaning that they should be less likely to notice. At least one study
suggests that the ability to perform a task does not predict the likelihood of
noticing (Simons & Jensen, 2009; for a replication, see Bredemeier & Simons,
2012). In a study I conducted with Melinda Jensen, we measured how well people
could track moving objects around a display, gradually increasing the speed
until people reached a level of 75% accuracy. Tracking ability varied greatly:
Some people could track objects at more than twice the speed others could.
Yet, the ability to track objects more easily was unrelated to the odds of noticing
an unexpected event. Apparently, as long as people try to perform the tracking
task, they are relatively unlikely to notice unexpected events.
What makes these findings interesting and important is that they run counter
to our intuitions. Most people are confident they would notice the chestthumping gorilla. In fact, nearly 90%believe they would spot the gorilla (Levin
& Angelone, 2008), and in a national survey, 78% agreed with the statement,
People generally notice when something unexpected enters their field of view,
even when theyre paying attention to something else (Simons & Chabris, 2010).
Similarly, people are convinced that they would spot errors in movies or changes
to a conversation partner (Levin & Angelone, 2008). We think we see and
remember far more of our surroundings than we actually do. But why do we
531
have such mistaken intuitions?

One explanation for this mistaken intuition is that our experiences
themselves mislead us (Simons & Chabris, 2010). We rarely experience a study
situation such as the gorilla experiment in which we are forced to confront
something obvious that we just missed. That partly explains why
demonstrations such as that one are so powerful: We expect that we would
notice the gorilla, and we cannot readily explain away our failure to notice it.
Most of the time, we are happily unaware of what we have missed, but we are
fully aware of those elements of a scene that we have noticed. Consequently,
if we assume our experiences are representative of the state of the world, we
will conclude that we notice unexpected events. We dont easily think about
what were missing.
Given the limits on attention coupled with our mistaken impression that
important events will capture our attention, how has our species survived? Why
werent our ancestors eaten by unexpected predators? One reason is that our
ability to focus attention intently might have been more evolutionarily useful
than the ability to notice unexpected events. After all, for an event to be
unexpected, it must occur relatively infrequently. Moreover, most events dont
require our immediate attention, so if inattentional blindness delays our ability
to notice the events, the consequences could well be minimal. In a social context,
others might notice that event and call attention to it. Although inattentional
blindness might have had minimal consequences over the course of our
evolutionary history, it does have consequences now.
At pedestrian speeds and with minimal distraction, inattentional blindness
might not matter for survival. But in modern society, we face greater distractions
and move at greater speeds, and even a minor delay in noticing something
unexpected can mean the difference between a fender-bender and a lethal
collision. If talking on a phone increases your odds of missing a unicycling clown,
it likely also increases your odds of missing the child who runs into the street
or the car that runs a red light. Why, then, do people continue to talk on the
532
phone when driving? The reason might well be the same mistaken intuition that
makes inattentional blindness surprising: Drivers simply do not notice how
distracted they are when they are talking on a phone, so they believe they can
drive just as well when talking on a phone even though they cant (Strayer &
Johnston, 2001).
So, what can you do about inattentional blindness? The short answer
appears to be, not much. There is no magical elixir that will overcome the
limits on attention, allowing you to notice everything (and that would not be a
good outcome anyway). But, there is something you can do to mitigate the
consequences of such limits. Now that you know about inattentional blindness,
you can take steps to limit its impact by recognizing how your intuitions will
lead you astray.
First, maximize the attention you do have available by avoiding distractions,
especially under conditions for which an unexpected event might be
catastrophic. The ring of a new call or the ding of a new text are hard to resist,
so make it impossible to succumb to the temptation by turning your phone off
or putting it somewhere out of reach when you are driving. If you know that
you will be tempted and you know that using your phone will increase
inattentional blindness, you must be proactive. Second, pay attention to what
others might not notice. If you are a bicyclist, dont assume that the driver sees
you, even if they appear to make eye contact. Looking is not the same as seeing.
Only by understanding the limits of attention and by recognizing our mistaken
beliefs about what we know to be true can we avoid the modern-day
consequences of those limits.
533
Outside Resources
Article: Scholarpedia article on inattentional blindness
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Inattentional_blindness
Video: The original gorilla video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
Video: The sequel to the gorilla video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY
Web: Website for Chabris & Simons book, The Invisible Gorilla. Includes links
to videos and descriptions of the research on inattentional blindness
http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com
1. Many people, upon learning about inattentional blindness, try to think of
ways to eliminate it, allowing themselves complete situation awareness.
Why might we be far worse off if we were not subject to inattentional
blindness?
2. If inattentional blindness cannot be eliminated, what steps might you take
to avoid its consequences?
3. Can you think of situations in which inattentional blindness is highly likely
to be a problem? Can you think of cases in which inattentional blindness
would not have much of an impact?
Vocabulary
Dichotic listening
A task in which different audio streams are presented to each ear. Typically,
people are asked to monitor one stream while ignoring the other.
Inattentional blindness
The failure to notice a fully visible, but unexpected, object or event when
attention is devoted to something else.
Inattentional deafness
The auditory analog of inattentional blindness. People fail to notice an
unexpected sound or voice when attention is devoted to other aspects of a
scene.
Selective listening
A method for studying selective attention in which people focus attention on
one auditory stream of information while deliberately ignoring other auditory
information.
Reference List
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Chabris, C. F., Weinberger, A., Fontaine, M., & Simons, D. J. (2011). You do not
talk about fight club if you do not notice fight club: Inattentional blindness
for a simulated real-world assault. i-Perception, 2, 150153.
Cherry, E. C. (1953). Experiments on the recognition of speech with one and two
ears. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 25, 975979.
Conway, A. R. A., Cowan, N., & Bunting, M. F. (2001). The cocktail party
phenomenon revisited: The importance of working memory capacity.
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Dalton, P., & Fraenkel, N. (2012). Gorillas we have missed: Sustained
inattentional deafness for dynamic events. Cognition, 124, 367372.
Levin, D. T., & Angelone, B. L. (2008). The visual metacognition questionnaire: A
measure of intuitions about vision. The American Journal of Psychology,
121, 451472.
Macdonald, J. S. P., & Lavie, N. (2011). Visual perceptual load induces
inattentional deafness. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73, 1780
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Mack A., & Rock I. (1998). Inattentional blindness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Moray, N. (1959). Attention in dichotic listening: Affective cues and the influence
of instructions. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 5660.

Most, S. B., Scholl, B. J., Clifford, E. R., & Simons, D. J. (2005). What you see is
what you set: Sustained inattentional blindness and the capture of
awareness. Psychological Review, 112, 217242.
Most, S. B., Simons, D. J., Scholl, B. J., Jimenez, R., Clifford, E., & Chabris, C. F.
(2001). How not to be seen: The contribution of similarity and selective
ignoring to sustained inattentional blindness. Psychological Science, 12, 9
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Neisser U., & Becklen R., (1975). Selective looking: Attending to visually specified
events. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 480494.
Neisser, U. (1979). The control of information pickup in selective looking. In A.
D. Pick (Ed.), Perception and its development: A tribute to Eleanor J. Gibson
(pp. 201219). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Richards, A., Hannon, E., & Derakshan, N. (2010). Predicting and manipulating
the incidence of inattentional blindness. Psychological Research, 74, 513
523.
Seegmiller, J. K., Watson, J. M., & Strayer, D. L. (2011). Individual differences in
susceptibility
to
inattentional
blindness.
Journal
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Multi-Modal Perception
Lorin Lachs
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Most of the time, we perceive the world as a unified bundle of sensations from
multiple sensory modalities. In other words, our perception is multimodal. This
chapter provides an overview of multimodal perception, including information
about its neurobiology and its psychological effects.
Learning Objectives
Define the basic terminology and basic principles of multimodal perception.
Describe the neuroanatomy of multisensory integration and name some of

the regions of the cortex and midbrain that have been implicated in
multisensory processing.
Explain the difference between multimodal phenomena and crossmodal

phenomena.
Give examples of multimodal and crossmodal behavioral effects.
Perception: Unified
Although it has been traditional to study the various senses independently,
most of the time, perception operates in the context of information supplied
by multiple sensory modalities at the same time. For example, imagine if you
witnessed a car collision. You could describe the stimulus generated by this
event by considering each of the senses independently; that is, as a set of
unimodal stimuli. Your eyes would be stimulated with patterns of light energy
bouncing off the cars involved. Your ears would be stimulated with patterns of
acoustic energy emanating from the collision. Your nose might even be
stimulated by the smell of burning rubber or gasoline. However, all of this
information would be relevant to the same thing: your perception of the car
collision. Indeed, unless someone was to explicitly ask you to describe your
perception in unimodal terms, you would most likely experience the event as
a unified bundle of sensations from multiple senses. In other words, your
perception would be multimodal. The question is whether the various sources
of information involved in this multimodal stimulus are processed separately
by the perceptual system or not.
For the last few decades, perceptual research has pointed to the importance
of multimodal perception: the effects on the perception of events and objects
in the world that are observed when there is information from more than one
sensory modality. Most of this research indicates that, at some point in
perceptual processing, information from the various sensory modalities is
integrated. In other words, the information is combined and treated as a unitary
representation of the world.
nobaproject.com - Multi-Modal Perception
544
Questions About Multimodal Perception

Several theoretical problems are raised by multimodal perception. After all, the
world is a blooming, buzzing world of confusion that constantly bombards
our perceptual system with light, sound, heat, pressure, and so forth. To make
matters more complicated, these stimuli come from multiple events spread out
over both space and time. To return to our example: Lets say the car crash you
observed happened on Main Street in your town. Your perception during the
car crash might include a lot of stimulation that was not relevant to the car
crash. For example, you might also overhear the conversation of a nearby
couple, see a bird flying into a tree, or smell the delicious scent of freshly baked
bread from a nearby bakery (or all three!). However, you would most likely not
make the mistake of associating any of these stimuli with the car crash. In fact,
we rarely combine the auditory stimuli associated with one event with the visual
stimuli associated with another (although, under some unique circumstances
such as ventriloquismwe do). How is the brain able to take the information
from separate sensory modalities and match it appropriately, so that stimuli
that belong together stay together, while stimuli that do not belong together
get treated separately? In other words, how does the perceptual system
determine which unimodal stimuli must be integrated, and which must not?
Once unimodal stimuli have been appropriately integrated, we can further
ask about the consequences of this integration: What are the effects of
multimodal perception that would not be present if perceptual processing were
only unimodal? Perhaps the most robust finding in the study of multimodal
perception concerns this last question. No matter whether you are looking at
the actions of neurons or the behavior of individuals, it has been found that
responses to multimodal stimuli are typically greater than the combined
response to either modality independently. In other words, if you presented
the stimulus in one modality at a time and measured the response to each of
these unimodal stimuli, you would find that adding them together would still
545
not equal the response to the multimodal stimulus. This superadditive effect
of multisensory integration indicates that there are consequences resulting
from the integrated processing of multimodal stimuli.
The extent of the superadditive effect (sometimes referred to as
multisensory enhancement) is determined by the strength of the response to
the single stimulus modality with the biggest effect. To understand this concept,
imagine someone speaking to you in a noisy environment (such as a crowded
party). When discussing this type of multimodal stimulus, it is often useful to
describe it in terms of its unimodal components: In this case, there is an
auditory component (the sounds generated by the speech of the person
speaking to you) and a visual component (the visual form of the face movements
as the person speaks to you). In the crowded party, the auditory component of
the persons speech might be difficult to process (because of the surrounding
party noise). The potential for visual information about speechlipreading
to help in understanding the speakers message is, in this situation, quite large.
However, if you were listening to that same person speak in a quiet library, the
auditory portion would probably be sufficient for receiving the message, and
the visual portion would help very little, if at all (Sumby & Pollack, 1954). In
general, for a stimulus with multimodal components, if the response to each
component (on its own) is weak, then the opportunity for multisensory
enhancement is very large. However, if one componentby itselfis sufficient
to evoke a strong response, then the opportunity for multisensory
enhancement is relatively small. This finding is called the Principle of Inverse
Effectiveness (Stein & Meredith, 1993) because the effectiveness of
multisensory enhancement is inversely related to the unimodal response with
the greatest effect.
Another important theoretical question about multimodal perception
concerns the neurobiology that supports it. After all, at some point, the
information from each sensory modality is definitely separated (e.g., light comes
in through the eyes, and sound comes in through the ears). How does the brain
546
take information from different neural systems (optic, auditory, etc.) and
combine it? If our experience of the world is multimodal, then it must be the
case that at some point during perceptual processing, the unimodal information
coming from separate sensory organssuch as the eyes, ears, skinis
combined. A related question asks where in the brain this integration takes
place. We turn to these questions in the next section.
Biological Bases of Multimodal Perception

Multisensory Neurons and Neural Convergence
A surprisingly large number of brain regions in the midbrain and cerebral cortex
are related to multimodal perception. These regions contain neurons that
respond to stimuli from not just one, but multiple sensory modalities. For
example, a region called the superior temporal sulcus contains single neurons
that respond to both the visual and auditory components of speech (Calvert,
2001; Calvert, Hansen, Iversen, & Brammer, 2001). These multisensory
convergence zones are interesting, because they are a kind of neural
intersection of information coming from the different senses. That is, neurons
that are devoted to the processing of one sense at a timesay vision or touch
send their information to the convergence zones, where it is processed
together.
One of the most closely studied multisensory convergence zones is the
superior colliculus (Stein & Meredith, 1993), which receives inputs from many
different areas of the brain, including regions involved in the unimodal
processing of visual and auditory stimuli (Edwards, Ginsburgh, Henkel, & Stein,
1979). Interestingly, the superior colliculus is involved in the orienting
response, which is the behavior associated with moving ones eye gaze toward
the location of a seen or heard stimulus. Given this function for the superior
colliculus, it is hardly surprising that there are multisensory neurons found there
547
(Stein & Stanford, 2008).
Crossmodal Receptive Fields

The details of the anatomy and function of multisensory neurons help to answer
the question of how the brain integrates stimuli appropriately. In order to
understand the details, we need to discuss a neurons receptive field. All over
the brain, neurons can be found that respond only to stimuli presented in a
very specific region of the space immediately surrounding the perceiver. That
region is called the neurons receptive field. If a stimulus is presented in a
neurons receptive field, then that neuron responds by increasing or decreasing
its firing rate. If a stimulus is presented outside of a neurons receptive field,
then there is no effect on the neurons firing rate. Importantly, when two
neurons send their information to a third neuron, the third neurons receptive
field is the combination of the receptive fields of the two input neurons. This is
called neural convergence, because the information from multiple neurons
converges on a single neuron. In the case of multisensory neurons, the
convergence arrives from different sensory modalities. Thus, the receptive
fields of multisensory neurons are the combination of the receptive fields of
neurons located in different sensory pathways.
Now, it could be the case that the neural convergence that results in
multisensory neurons is set up in a way that ignores the locations of the input
neurons receptive fields. Amazingly, however, these crossmodal receptive
fields overlap. For example, a multisensory neuron in the superior colliculus
might receive input from two unimodal neurons: one with a visual receptive
field and one with an auditory receptive field. It has been found that the
unimodal receptive fields refer to the same locations in spacethat is, the two
unimodal neurons respond to stimuli in the same region of space. Crucially, the
overlap in the crossmodal receptive fields plays a vital role in the integration of
crossmodal stimuli. When the information from the separate modalities is
548
coming from within these overlapping receptive fields, then it is treated as

having come from the same locationand the neuron responds with a
superadditive (enhanced) response. So, part of the information that is used by
the brain to combine multimodal inputs is the location in space from which the
stimuli came.
This pattern is common across many multisensory neurons in multiple
regions of the brain. Because of this, researchers have defined the spatial
principle of multisensory integration: Multisensory enhancement is observed
when the sources of stimulation are spatially related to one another. A related
phenomenon concerns the timing of crossmodal stimuli. Enhancement effects
are observed in multisensory neurons only when the inputs from different
senses arrive within a short time of one another (e.g., Recanzone, 2003).
Multimodal Processing in Unimodal Cortex

Multisensory neurons have also been observed outside of multisensory
convergence zones, in areas of the brain that were once thought to be dedicated
to the processing of a single modality (unimodal cortex). For example, the
primary visual cortex was long thought to be devoted to the processing of
exclusively visual information. The primary visual cortex is the first stop in the
cortex for information arriving from the eyes, so it processes very low-level
information like edges. Interestingly, neurons have been found in the primary
visual cortex that receives information from the primary auditory cortex (where
sound information from the auditory pathway is processed) and from the
superior temporal sulcus (a multisensory convergence zone mentioned above).
This is remarkable because it indicates that the processing of visual information
is, from a very early stage, influenced by auditory information.
549
There may be two ways for these multimodal interactions to occur. First, it
could be that the processing of auditory information in relatively late stages of
processing feeds back to influence low-level processing of visual information
in unimodal cortex (McDonald, Teder-Slejrvi, Russo, & Hillyard, 2003).
Alternatively, it may be that areas of unimodal cortex contact each other directly
(Driver & Noesselt, 2008; Macaluso & Driver, 2005), such that multimodal
integration is a fundamental component of all sensory processing.
In fact, the large numbers of multisensory neurons distributed all around
the cortexin multisensory convergence areas and in primary corticeshas
led some researchers to propose that a drastic reconceptualization of the brain
is necessary (Ghazanfar & Schroeder, 2006). They argue that the cortex should
not be considered as being divided into isolated regions that process only one
kind of sensory information. Rather, they propose that these areas only prefer
to process information from specific modalities but engage in low-level
multisensory processing whenever it is beneficial to the perceiver (Vasconcelos
et al., 2011).
Behavioral Effects of Multimodal Perception

Although neuroscientists tend to study very simple interactions between
neurons, the fact that theyve found so many crossmodal areas of the cortex
seems to hint that the way we experience the world is fundamentally
multimodal. As discussed above, our intuitions about perception are consistent
with this; it does not seem as though our perception of events is constrained
to the perception of each sensory modality independently. Rather, we perceive
a unified world, regardless of the sensory modality through which we perceive
it.
550
It will probably require many more years of research before neuroscientists

uncover all the details of the neural machinery involved in this unified
experience. In the meantime, experimental psychologists have contributed to
our understanding of multimodal perception through investigations of the
behavioral effects associated with it. These effects fall into two broad classes.
The first classmultimodal phenomenaconcerns the binding of inputs from
multiple sensory modalities and the effects of this binding on perception. The
second classcrossmodal phenomenaconcerns the influence of one
sensory modality on the perception of another (Spence, Senkowski, & Roder,
2009).
Multimodal Phenomena
Audiovisual Speech
Multimodal phenomena concern stimuli that generate simultaneous (or nearly
simultaneous) information in more than one sensory modality. As discussed
above, speech is a classic example of this kind of stimulus. When an individual
speaks, she generates sound waves that carry meaningful information. If the
perceiver is also looking at the speaker, then that perceiver also has access to
visual patterns that carry meaningful information. Of course, as anyone who
has ever tried to lipread knows, there are limits on how informative visual speech
information is. Even so, the visual speech pattern alone is sufficient for very
robust speech perception. Most people assume that deaf individuals are much
better at lipreading than individuals with normal hearing. It may come as a
surprise to learn, however, that some individuals with normal hearing are also
remarkably good at lipreading (sometimes called speechreading). In fact, there
is a wide range of speechreading ability in both normal hearing and deaf
populations (Andersson, Lyxell, Rnnberg, & Spens, 2001). However, the
reasons for this wide range of performance are not well understood (Auer &
551
Bernstein, 2007; Bernstein, 2006; Bernstein, Auer, & Tucker, 2001; Mohammed
et al., 2005).
How does visual information about speech interact with auditory
information about speech? One of the earliest investigations of this question
examined the accuracy of recognizing spoken words presented in a noisy
context, much like in the example above about talking at a crowded party. To
study this phenomenon experimentally, some irrelevant noise (white noise
which sounds like a radio tuned between stations) was presented to
participants. Embedded in the white noise were spoken words, and the
participants task was to identify the words. There were two conditions: one in
which only the auditory component of the words was presented (the auditoryalone condition), and one in both the auditory and visual components were
presented (the audiovisual condition). The noise levels were also varied, so
that on some trials, the noise was very loud relative to the loudness of the
words, and on other trials, the noise was very soft relative to the words. Sumby
and Pollack (1954) found that the accuracy of identifying the spoken words was
much higher for the audiovisual condition than it was in the auditory-alone
condition. In addition, the pattern of results was consistent with the Principle
of Inverse Effectiveness: The advantage gained by audiovisual presentation was
highest when the auditory-alone condition performance was lowest (i.e., when
the noise was loudest). At these noise levels, the audiovisual advantage was
considerable: It was estimated that allowing the participant to see the speaker
was equivalent to turning the volume of the noise down by over half. Clearly,
the audiovisual advantage can have dramatic effects on behavior.
Another phenomenon using audiovisual speech is a very famous illusion
called the McGurk effect (named after one of its discoverers). In the classic
formulation of the illusion, a movie is recorded of a speaker saying the syllables
gaga. Another movie is made of the same speaker saying the syllables baba.
Then, the auditory portion of the baba movie is dubbed onto the visual portion
of the gaga movie. This combined stimulus is presented to participants, who
552
are asked to report what the speaker in the movie said. McGurk and MacDonald
(1976) reported that 98 percent of their participants reported hearing the
syllable dadawhich was in neither the visual nor the auditory components
of the stimulus. These results indicate that when visual and auditory
information about speech is integrated, it can have profound effects on
perception.
Tactile/Visual Interactions in Body Ownership

Not all multisensory integration phenomena concern speech, however. One
particularly compelling multisensory illusion involves the integration of tactile
and visual information in the perception of body ownership. In the rubber
hand illusion (Botvinick & Cohen, 1998), an observer is situated so that one of
his hands is not visible. A fake rubber hand is placed near the obscured hand,
but in a visible location. The experimenter then uses a light paintbrush to
simultaneously stroke the obscured hand and the rubber hand in the same
locations. For example, if the middle finger of the obscured hand is being
brushed, then the middle finger of the rubber hand will also be brushed. This
sets up a correspondence between the tactile sensations (coming from the
obscured hand) and the visual sensations (of the rubber hand). After a short
time (around 10 minutes), participants report feeling as though the rubber hand
belongs to them; that is, that the rubber hand is a part of their body. This
feeling can be so strong that surprising the participant by hitting the rubber
hand with a hammer often leads to a reflexive withdrawing of the obscured
handeven though it is in no danger at all. It appears, then, that our awareness
of our own bodies may be the result of multisensory integration.
553
Crossmodal Phenomena
Crossmodal phenomena are distinguished from multimodal phenomena in
that they concern the influence one sensory modality has on the perception of
another.
Visual Influence on Auditory Localization

A famous (and commonly experienced) crossmodal illusion is referred to as
the ventriloquism effect. When a ventriloquist appears to make a puppet
speak, she fools the listener into thinking that the location of the origin of the
speech sounds is at the puppets mouth. In other words, instead of localizing
the auditory signal (coming from the mouth of a ventriloquist) to the correct
place, our perceptual system localizes it incorrectly (to the mouth of the puppet).
Why might this happen? Consider the information available to the observer
about the location of the two components of the stimulus: the sounds from the
ventriloquists mouth and the visual movement of the puppets mouth. Whereas
it is very obvious where the visual stimulus is coming from (because you can
see it), it is much more difficult to pinpoint the location of the sounds. In other
words, the very precise visual location of mouth movement apparently
overrides the less well-specified location of the auditory information. More
generally, it has been found that the location of a wide variety of auditory stimuli
can be affected by the simultaneous presentation of a visual stimulus (Vroomen
& De Gelder, 2004). In addition, the ventriloquism effect has been demonstrated
for objects in motion: The motion of a visual object can influence the perceived
direction of motion of a moving sound source (Soto-Faraco, Kingstone, &
Spence, 2003).
554
Auditory Influence on Visual Perception

A related illusion demonstrates the opposite effect: where sounds have an effect
on visual perception. In the double-flash illusion, a participant is asked to stare
at a central point on a computer monitor. On the extreme edge of the
participants vision, a white circle is briefly flashed one time. There is also a
simultaneous auditory event: either one beep or two beeps in rapid succession.
Remarkably, participants report seeing two visual flashes when the flash is
accompanied by two beeps; the same stimulus is seen as a single flash in the
context of a single beep or no beep (Shams, Kamitani, & Shimojo, 2000). In other
words, the number of heard beeps influences the number of seen flashes!
Another illusion involves the perception of collisions between two circles
(called balls) moving toward each other and continuing through each other.
Such stimuli can be perceived as either two balls moving through each other
or as a collision between the two balls that then bounce off each other in
opposite directions. Sekuler, Sekuler, and Lau (1997) showed that the
presentation of an auditory stimulus at the time of contact between the two
balls strongly influenced the perception of a collision event. In this case, the
perceived sound influences the interpretation of the ambiguous visual stimulus.
Crossmodal Speech
Several crossmodal phenomena have also been discovered for speech stimuli.
These crossmodal speech effects usually show altered perceptual processing
of unimodal stimuli (e.g., acoustic patterns) by virtue of prior experience with
the alternate unimodal stimulus (e.g., optical patterns). For example,
Rosenblum, Miller, and Sanchez (2007) conducted an experiment examining
the ability to become familiar with a persons voice. Their first interesting finding
was unimodal: Much like what happens when someone repeatedly hears a
person speak, perceivers can become familiar with the visual voice of a
555
speaker. That is, they can become familiar with the persons speaking style
simply by seeing that person speak. Even more astounding was their
crossmodal finding: Familiarity with this visual information also led to increased
recognition of the speakers auditory speech, to which participants had never
had exposure.
Similarly, it has been shown that when perceivers see a speaking face, they
can identify the (auditory-alone) voice of that speaker, and vice versa (Kamachi,
Hill, Lander, & Vatikiotis-Bateson, 2003; Lachs & Pisoni, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c;
Rosenblum, Smith, Nichols, Lee, & Hale, 2006). In other words, the visual form
of a speaker engaged in the act of speaking appears to contain information
about what that speaker should sound like. Perhaps more surprisingly, the
auditory form of speech seems to contain information about what the speaker
should look like.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we have reviewed some of the main evidence and findings
concerning the role of multimodal perception in our experience of the world.
It appears that our nervous system (and the cortex in particular) contains
considerable architecture for the processing of information arriving from
multiple senses. Given this neurobiological setup, and the diversity of
behavioral phenomena associated with multimodal stimuli, it is likely that the
investigation of multimodal perception will continue to be a topic of interest in
the field of experimental perception for many years to come.
556
Outside Resources
Article: A review of the neuroanatomy and methods associated with
multimodal perception:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.04.015
Journal: Experimental Brain Research Special issue: Crossmodal processing
http://www.springerlink.com/content/0014-4819/198/2-3
Video: McGurk demo
http://youtu.be/aFPtc8BVdJk
Video: The Rubber Hand Illusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk
Web: Double-flash illusion demo
http://www.cns.atr.jp/~kmtn/soundInducedIllusoryFlash2/
1. The extensive network of multisensory areas and neurons in the cortex
implies that much perceptual processing occurs in the context of multiple
inputs. Could the processing of unimodal information ever be useful? Why
or why not?
2. Some researchers have argued that the Principle of Inverse Effectiveness
(PoIE) results from ceiling effects: Multisensory enhancement cannot take
place when one modality is sufficient for processing because in such cases
it is not possible for processing to be enhanced (because performance is
already at the ceiling). On the other hand, other researchers claim that the
PoIE stems from the perceptual systems ability to assess the relative value
of stimulus cues, and to use the most reliable sources of information to
construct a representation of the outside world. What do you think? Could
these two possibilities ever be teased apart? What kinds of experiments
might one conduct to try to get at this issue?
3. In the late 17th century, a scientist named William Molyneux asked the
famous philosopher John Locke a question relevant to modern studies of
multisensory processing. The question was this: Imagine a person who has
been blind since birth, and who is able, by virtue of the sense of touch, to
identify three dimensional shapes such as spheres or pyramids. Now
imagine that this person suddenly receives the ability to see. Would the
person, without using the sense of touch, be able to identify those same
shapes visually? Can modern research in multimodal perception help
answer this question? Why or why not? How do the studies about
crossmodal phenomena inform us about the answer to this question?
Vocabulary
Integrated
The process by which the perceptual system combines information arising from
more than one modality.
Multimodal
Of or pertaining to multiple sensory modalities.
Multimodal perception
The effects that concurrent stimulation in more than one sensory modality has
on the perception of events and objects in the world.
Multisensory enhancement
See superadditive effect of multisensory integration.
Sensory modalities
A type of sense; for example, vision or audition.
Superadditive effect of multisensory integration

The finding that responses to multimodal stimuli are typically greater than the
sum of the independent responses to each unimodal component if it were
presented on its own.
Unimodal
Of or pertaining to a single sensory modality.
Unimodal components
The parts of a stimulus relevant to one sensory modality at a time.
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deed.en_US.
Eyewitness Testimony and

Memory Biases
Cara Laney & Elizabeth F. Loftus
Reed College, University of Calfornia, Irvine
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Eyewitnesses can provide very compelling legal testimony, but rather than
recording experiences flawlessly, their memories are susceptible to a variety of
errors and biases. They (like the rest of us) can make errors in remembering
specific details and can even remember whole events that did not actually
happen. In this chapter, we discuss several of the common types of errors, and
what they can tell us about human memory and its interactions with the legal
system.
Learning Objectives
Describe the kinds of mistakes that eyewitnesses commonly make and some
of the ways that this can impede justice.
Explain some of the errors that are common in human memory.
Describe some of the important research that has demonstrated human

memory errors and their consequences.
What Is Eyewitness Testimony?

Eyewitness testimony is what happens when a person witnesses a crime (or
accident, or other legally important event) and later gets up on the stand and
recalls for the court all the details of the witnessed event. It involves a more
complicated process than might initially be presumed. It includes what happens
during the actual crime to facilitate or hamper witnessing, as well as everything
that happens from the time the event is over to the later courtroom appearance.
The eyewitness may be interviewed by the police and numerous lawyers,
describe the perpetrator to several different people, and make an identification
of the perpetrator, among other things.
Why Is Eyewitness Testimony an Important Area of

Psychological Research?
When an eyewitness stands up in front of the court and describes what
happened from her own perspective, this testimony can be extremely
compellingit is hard for those hearing this testimony to take it with a grain
of salt, or otherwise adjust its power. But to what extent is this necessary?
There is now a wealth of evidence, from research conducted over several
decades, suggesting that eyewitness testimony is probably the most persuasive
form of evidence presented in court, but in many cases, its accuracy is dubious.
There is also evidence that mistaken eyewitness evidence can lead to wrongful
convictionsending people to prison for years or decades, even to death row,
for crimes they did not commit. Faulty eyewitness testimony has been
implicated in least 75% of DNA exoneration casesmore than any other cause
(Garrett, 2011). In a particularly famous case, a man named Ronald Cotton was
identified by a rape victim, Jennifer Thompson, as her rapist, and was found
guilty and sentenced to life in prison. After more than 10 years, he was
nobaproject.com - Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases
570
exonerated (and the real rapist identified) based on DNA evidence. For details
on this case and other (relatively) lucky individuals whose false convictions were
subsequently overturned with DNA evidence, see the Innocence Project website
().
There is also hope, though, that many of the errors may be avoidable if
proper precautions are taken during the investigative and judicial processes.
Psychological science has taught us what some of those precautions might
involve, and we discuss some of that science now.
Misinformation
In an early study of eyewitness memory, undergraduate subjects first watched
a slideshow depicting a small red car driving and then hitting a pedestrian
(Loftus, Miller, & Burns, 1978). Some subjects were then asked leading questions
about what had happened in the slides. For example, subjects were asked, How
fast was the car traveling when it passed the yield sign? But this question was
actually designed to be misleading, because the original slide included a stop
sign rather than a yield sign.
Later, subjects were shown pairs of slides. One of the pair was the original
slide containing the stop sign; the other was a replacement slide containing a
yield sign. Subjects were asked which of the pair they had previously seen.
Subjects who had been asked about the yield sign were likely to pick the slide
showing the yield sign, even though they had originally seen the slide with the
stop sign. In other words, the misinformation in the leading question led to
inaccurate memory.
This phenomenon is called the misinformation effect, because the
misinformation that subjects were exposed to after the event (here in the form
of a misleading question) apparently contaminates subjects memories of what
they witnessed. Hundreds of subsequent studies have demonstrated that
memory can be contaminated by erroneous information that people are
571
exposed to after they witness an event (see Frenda, Nichols, & Loftus, 2011;
Loftus, 2005). The misinformation in these studies has led people to incorrectly
remember everything from small but crucial details of a perpetrators
appearance to objects as large as a barn that wasnt there at all.
These studies have demonstrated that young adults (the typical research
subjects in psychology) are often susceptible to misinformation, but that
children and older adults can be even more susceptible (Bartlett & Memon,
2007; Ceci & Bruck, 1995). In addition, misinformation effects can occur easily,
and without any intention to deceive (Allan & Gabbert, 2008). Even slight
differences in the wording of a question can lead to misinformation effects.
Subjects in one study were more likely to say yes when asked Did you see the
broken headlight? than when asked Did you see a broken headlight? (Loftus,
1975).
Other studies have shown that misinformation can corrupt memory even
more easily when it is encountered in social situations (Gabbert, Memon, Allan,
& Wright, 2004). This is a problem particularly in cases where more than one
person witnesses a crime. In these cases, witnesses tend to talk to one another
in the immediate aftermath of the crime, including as they wait for police to
arrive. But because different witnesses are different people with different
perspectives, they are likely to see or notice different things, and thus remember
different things, even when they witness the same event. So when they
communicate about the crime later, they not only reinforce common memories
for the event, they also contaminate each others memories for the event
(Gabbert, Memon, & Allan, 2003; Paterson & Kemp, 2006; Takarangi, Parker, &
Garry, 2006).
The misinformation effect has been modeled in the laboratory. Researchers
had subjects watch a video in pairs. Both subjects sat in front of the same screen,
but because they wore differently polarized glasses, they saw two different
versions of a video, projected onto a screen. So, although they were both
watching the same screen, and believed (quite reasonably) that they were
572
watching the same video, they were actually watching two different versions of
the video (Garry, French, Kinzett, & Mori, 2008).
In the video, Eric the electrician is seen wandering through an unoccupied
house and helping himself to the contents thereof. A total of eight details were
different between the two videos. After watching the videos, the co-witnesses
worked together on 12 memory test questions. Four of these questions dealt
with details that were different in the two versions of the video, so subjects had
the chance to influence one another. Then subjects worked individually on 20
additional memory test questions. Eight of these were for details that were
different in the two videos. Subjects accuracy was highly dependent on whether
they had discussed the details previously. Their accuracy for items they had not
previously discussed with their co-witness was 79%. But for items that they had
discussed, their accuracy dropped markedly, to 34%. That is, subjects allowed
their co-witnesses to corrupt their memories for what they had seen.
Identifying Perpetrators
In addition to correctly remembering many details of the crimes they witness,
eyewitnesses often need to remember the faces and other identifying features
of the perpetrators of those crimes. Eyewitnesses are often asked to describe
that perpetrator to law enforcement and later to make identifications from
books of mug shots or lineups. Here, too, there is a substantial body of research
demonstrating that eyewitnesses can make serious, but often understandable
and even predictable, errors (Caputo & Dunning, 2007; Cutler & Penrod, 1995).
In most jurisdictions in the United States, lineups are typically conducted
with pictures, called photo spreads, rather than with actual people standing
behind one-way glass (Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006). The eyewitness is given
a set of small pictures of perhaps six or eight individuals who are dressed
similarly and photographed in similar circumstances. One of these individuals
is the police suspect, and the remainder are foils or fillers (people known to
573
be innocent of the particular crime under investigation). If the eyewitness

identifies the suspect, then the investigation of that suspect is likely to progress.
If a witness identifies a foil or no one, then the police may choose to move their
investigation in another direction.
This process is modeled in laboratory studies of eyewitness identifications.
In these studies, research subjects witness a mock crime (often as a short video)
and then are asked to make an identification from a photo or a live lineup.
Sometimes the lineups are target present, meaning that the perpetrator from
the mock crime is actually in the lineup, and sometimes they are target absent,
meaning that the lineup is made up entirely of foils. The subjects, or mock
witnesses, are given some instructions and asked to pick the perpetrator out
of the lineup. The particular details of the witnessing experience, the
instructions, and the lineup members can all influence the extent to which the
mock witness is likely to pick the perpetrator out of the lineup, or indeed to
make any selection at all. Mock witnesses (and indeed real witnesses) can make
errors in two different ways. They can fail to pick the perpetrator out of a target
present lineup (by picking a foil or by neglecting to make a selection), or they
can pick a foil in a target absent lineup (wherein the only correct choice is to
not make a selection).
Some factors have been shown to make eyewitness identification errors
particularly likely. These include poor vision or viewing conditions during the
crime, particularly stressful witnessing experiences, too little time to view the
perpetrator or perpetrators, to much delay between witnessing and identifying,
and being asked to identify a perpetrator from a race other than ones own
(Bornstein, Deffenbacher, Penrod, & McGorty, 2012; Brigham, Bennett,
Meissner, & Mitchell, 2007; Burton, Wilson, Cowan, & Bruce, 1999;
Deffenbacher, Bornstein, Penrod, & McGorty, 2004).
574
It is hard for the legal system to do much about most of these problems.
But there are some things that the justice system can do to help lineup
identifications go right. For example, investigators can put together highquality, fair lineups. A fair lineup is one in which the suspect and each of the
foils is equally likely to be chosen by someone who has read an eyewitness
description of the perpetrator but who did not actually witness the crime
(Brigham, Ready, & Spier, 1990). This means that no one in the lineup should
stick out, and that everyone should match the description given by the
eyewitness. Other important recommendations that have come out of this
research include better ways to conduct lineups, double blind lineups,
unbiased instructions for witnesses, and conducting lineups in a sequential
fashion (see Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999; Wells et
al., 1998; Wells & Olson, 2003).
Kinds of Memory Biases

Memory is also susceptible to a wide variety of other biases and errors. People
can forget events that happened to them and people they once knew. They can
mix up details across time and place. They can even remember whole complex
events that never happened at all. Importantly, these errors, once made, can
be very hard to unmake. A memory is no less memorable just because it is
wrong.
Some small memory errors are commonplace, and you have no doubt
experienced many of them. You set down your keys without paying attention,
and then cannot find them later when you go to look for them. You try to come
up with a persons name but cannot find it, even though you have the sense
that it is right at the tip of your tongue (psychologists actually call this the tipof-the-tongue effect, or TOT) (Brown, 1991).
575
Other sorts of memory biases are more complicated and longer lasting. For
example, it turns out that our expectations and beliefs about how the world
works can have huge influences on our memories. Because many aspects of
our everyday lives are full of redundancies, our memory systems take advantage
of the recurring patterns by forming and using schemata, or memory templates
(Alba & Hasher, 1983; Brewer & Treyens, 1981). Thus, we know to expect that
a library will have shelves and tables and librarians, and so we dont have to
spend energy noticing these at the time. The result of this lack of attention,
however, is that one is likely to remember schema-consistent information (such
as tables), and to remember them in a rather generic way, whether or not they
were actually present.
False Memory
Some memory errors are so large that they almost belong in a class of their
own: false memories. Back in the early 1990s a pattern emerged whereby
people would go into therapy for depression and other everyday problems, but
over the course of the therapy develop memories for violent and horrible
victimhood (Loftus & Ketcham, 1994). These patients therapists claimed that
the patients were recovering genuine memories of real childhood abuse, buried
deep in their minds for years or even decades. But some experimental
psychologists believed that the memories were instead likely to be false
created in therapy. These researchers then set out to see whether it would
indeed be possible for wholly false memories to be created by procedures
similar to those used in these patients therapy.
In early false memory studies, undergraduate subjects family members
were recruited to provide events from the students lives. The student subjects
were told that the researchers had talked to their family members and learned
about four different events from their childhoods. The researchers asked if the
now undergraduate students remembered each of these four events
576
introduced via short hints. The subjects were asked to write about each of the
four events in a booklet and then were interviewed two separate times. The
trick was that one of the events came from the researchers rather than the
family (and the family had actually assured the researchers that this event had
not happened to the subject). In the first such study, this researcher-introduced
event was a story about being lost in a shopping mall and rescued by an older
adult. In this study, after just being asked whether they remembered these
events occurring on three separate occasions, a quarter of subjects came to
believe that they had indeed been lost in the mall (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). In
subsequent studies, similar procedures were used to get subjects to believe
that they nearly drowned and had been rescued by a lifeguard, or that they had
spilled punch on the brides parents at a family wedding, or that they had been
attacked by a vicious animal as a child, among other events (Heaps & Nash,
1999; Hyman, Husband, & Billings, 1995; Porter, Yuille, & Lehman, 1999).
More recent false memory studies have used a variety of different
manipulations to produce false memories in substantial minorities and even
occasional majorities of manipulated subjects (Braun, Ellis, & Loftus, 2002;
Lindsay, Hagen, Read, Wade, & Garry, 2004; Mazzoni, Loftus, Seitz, & Lynn, 1999;
Seamon, Philbin, & Harrison, 2006; Wade, Garry, Read, & Lindsay, 2002). For
example, one group of researchers used a mock-advertising study, wherein
subjects were asked to review (fake) advertisements for Disney vacations, to
convince subjects that they had once met the character Bugs Bunny at
Disneylandan impossible false memory because Bugs is a Warner Brothers
character (Braun et al., 2002). Another group of researchers photoshopped
childhood photographs of their subjects into a hot air balloon picture and then
asked the subjects to try to remember and describe their hot air balloon
experience (Wade et al., 2002). Other researchers gave subjects unmanipulated
class photographs from their childhoods along with a fake story about a class
prank, and thus enhanced the likelihood that subjects would falsely remember
the prank (Lindsay et al., 2004).
577
Using a false feedback manipulation, we have been able to persuade

subjects to falsely remember having a variety of childhood experiences. In these
studies, subjects are told (falsely) that a powerful computer system has analyzed
questionnaires that they completed previously and has concluded that they
had a particular experience years earlier. Subjects apparently believe what the
computer says about them and adjust their memories to match this new
information. A variety of different false memories have been implanted in this
way. In some studies, subjects are told they once got sick on a particular food
(Bernstein, Laney, Morris, & Loftus, 2005). These memories can then spill out
into other aspects of subjects lives, such that they often become less interested
in eating that food in the future (Bernstein & Loftus, 2009b). Other false
memories implanted with this methodology include having an unpleasant
experience with the character Pluto at Disneyland and witnessing physical
violence between ones parents (Berkowitz, Laney, Morris, Garry, & Loftus, 2008;
Laney & Loftus, 2008).
Importantly, once these false memories are implantedwhether through
complex methods or simple onesit is extremely difficult to tell them apart
from true memories (Bernstein & Loftus, 2009a; Laney & Loftus, 2008).
Conclusion
To conclude, eyewitness testimony is very powerful and convincing to jurors,
even though it is not particularly reliable. Identification errors occur, and these
errors can lead to people being falsely accused and even convicted. Likewise,
eyewitness memory can be corrupted by leading questions, misinterpretations
of events, conversations with co-witnesses, and their own expectations for what
should have happened. People can even come to remember whole events that
never occurred.
578
The problems with memory in the legal system are real. But what can we
do to start to fix them? A number of specific recommendations have already
been made, and many of these are in the process of being implemented (e.g.,
Steblay & Loftus, 2012; Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999;
Wells et al., 1998). Some of these recommendations are aimed at specific legal
procedures, including when and how witnesses should be interviewed, and how
lineups should be constructed and conducted. Other recommendations call for
appropriate education (often in the form of expert witness testimony) to be
provided to jury members and others tasked with assessing eyewitness
memory. Eyewitness testimony can be of great value to the legal system, but
decades of research now argues that this testimony is often given far more
weight than its accuracy justifies.
579
1. Imagine that you are a juror in a murder case where an eyewitness testifies.
In what ways might your knowledge of memory errors affect your use of
this testimony?
2. How true to life do you think television shows such as CSI or Law & Order
are in their portrayals of eyewitnesses?
3. Many jurisdictions in the United States use show-ups, where an eyewitness
is brought to a suspect (who may be standing on the street or in handcuffs
in the back of a police car) and asked, Is this the perpetrator? Is this a good
or bad idea, from a psychological perspective? Why?
Vocabulary
False memories
Memory for an event that never actually occurred, implanted by experimental
manipulation or other means.
Foils
Any member of a lineup (whether live or photograph) other than the suspect.
Misinformation effect
A memory error caused by exposure to incorrect information between the
original event (e.g., a crime) and later memory test (e.g., an interview, lineup,
or day in court).
Mock witnesses
A research subject who plays the part of a witness in a study.
Photo spreads
A selection of normally small photographs of faces given to a witness for the
purpose of identifying a perpetrator.
Schema (plural: schemata)
A memory template, created through repeated exposure to a particular class
of objects or events.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases by
Cara Laney and Elizabeth F. Loftus is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Topic 4
Development
Cognitive Development in
Childhood
Robert Siegler
Carnegie Mellon University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter examines what cognitive development is, major theories about
how it occurs, the roles of nature and nurture, whether it is continuous or
discontinuous, and how research in the area is being used to improve education.
Learning Objectives
Be able to identify and describe the main areas of cognitive development.
Be able to describe major theories of cognitive development and what

distinguishes them.
Understand how nature and nurture work together to produce cognitive

development.
Understand why cognitive development is sometimes viewed as

discontinuous and sometimes as continuous.
Know some ways in which research on cognitive development is being used

to improve education.
Introduction
Cognitive development refers to the growth of thinking that takes place from
birth through adolescence. Defining thinking turns out to be harder than it
appears, because no clear boundaries separate thinking from other mental
activities. Thinking obviously involves the higher mental processes: problem
solving, reasoning, creating, conceptualizing, categorizing, remembering,
planning, and so on. However, thinking also involves other mental processes
that seem more basic and at which even toddlers are skilled: perceiving objects
and events in the external environment, acting skillfully on objects in order to
obtain goals, and understanding and producing language are three such
examples. Yet other parts of human development involve thinking to some
extent but are not usually viewed as central parts of cognitive development,
because thinking is only a relatively small part of the characteristics; peoples
personalities and temperaments are two such examples.
As the name suggests, cognitive development is about change. Childrens
thinking changes in dramatic and surprising ways. Consider DeVriess (1969)
study of whether young children understand the difference between
appearance and reality. To find out, she brought an unusually even-tempered
cat named Maynard to a psychology laboratory and allowed the 3- to 6-yearold participants in the study to pet and play with him. DeVries then put a mask
of a fierce dog on Maynards head, and asked the children what Maynard was.
Despite all of the children having identified Maynard previously as a cat, now
most 3-year-olds said that he was a dog and claimed that he had a dogs bones
and a dogs stomach. In contrast, the 6-year-olds werent fooled; they had no
doubt that Maynard remained a cat. Understanding how childrens thinking
changes so dramatically in just a few years is one of the fascinating challenges
in studying cognitive development.
nobaproject.com - Cognitive Development in Childhood
591
There are several main types of theories of child development. Stage

theories, such as Piagets stage theory, focus on whether children progress
through qualitatively different stages of development. Sociocultural theories,
such as that of Lev Vygotsky, emphasize how other people and the attitudes,
values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture, influence childrens
development. Information processing theories, such as that of David Klahr,
examine the mental processes that produce thinking at any one time and the
transition processes that lead to growth in that thinking.
At the heart of all of these theories, and indeed of all research on cognitive
development, are two main questions: (1) How do nature and nurture interact
to produce cognitive development? (2) Does cognitive development progress
through qualitatively distinct stages? In the remainder of this chapter, we
examine the answers that are emerging regarding these questions, as well as
ways in which cognitive developmental research is being used to improve
education.
Nature and Nurture

The most basic question about child development is how nature and nurture
together shape development. Nature refers to our biological endowment, the
genes we receive from our parents. Nurture refers to the environments, social
as well as physical, that influence our development, everything from the womb
in which we develop before birth to the homes in which we grow up, the schools
we attend, and the many people with whom we interact.
The nature-nurture issue is often presented as an either-or question: Is our
intelligence (for example) due to our genes or to the environments in which we
live? In fact, however, every aspect of development is produced by the
interaction of genes and environment. At the most basic level, without genes,
there would be no child, and without an environment to provide nurture, there
also would be no child.
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The way in which nature and nurture work together can be seen in findings
on visual development. Many people view vision as something that people
either are born with or that is purely a matter of biological maturation, but it
also depends on the right kind of experience at the right time. For example,
development of depth perception, the ability to actively perceive the distance
from oneself of objects in the environment, depends on seeing patterned light
and having normal brain activity in response to the patterned light, in infancy
(Held, 1993). If no patterned light is received, for example when a baby has
severe cataracts or blindness that is not surgically corrected until later in
development, depth perception remains abnormal even after the surgery.
Adding to the complexity of the nature-nurture interaction, childrens genes
lead to their eliciting different treatment from other people, which influences
their cognitive development. For example, infants physical attractiveness and
temperament are influenced considerably by their genetic inheritance, but it is
also the case that parents provide more sensitive and affectionate care to
easygoing and attractive infants than to difficult and less attractive ones, which
can contribute to the infants later cognitive development (Langlois et al., 1995;
van den Boom & Hoeksma, 1994).
Also contributing to the complex interplay of nature and nurture is the role
of children in shaping their own cognitive development. From the first days out
of the womb, children actively choose to attend more to some things and less
to others. For example, even 1-month-olds choose to look at their mothers face
more than at the faces of other women of the same age and general level of
attractiveness (Bartrip, Morton, & de Schonen, 2001). Childrens contributions
to their own cognitive development grow larger as they grow older (Scarr &
McCartney, 1983). When children are young, their parents largely determine
their experiences: whether they will attend day care, the children with whom
they will have play dates, the books to which they have access, and so on. In
contrast, older children and adolescents choose their environments to a larger
degree. Their parents preferences largely determine how 5-year-olds spend
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time, but 15-year-olds own preferences largely determine when, if ever, they
set foot in a library. Childrens choices often have large consequences. To cite
one example, the more that children choose to read, the more that their reading
improves in future years (Baker, Dreher, & Guthrie, 2000). Thus, the issue is not
whether cognitive development is a product of nature or nurture; rather, the
issue is how nature and nurture work together to produce cognitive
development.
Does Cognitive Development Progress Through Distinct

Stages?
Some aspects of the development of living organisms, such as the growth of
the width of a pine tree, involve quantitative changes, with the tree getting a
little wider each year. Other changes, such as the life cycle of a ladybug, involve
qualitative changes, with the creature becoming a totally different type of entity
after a transition than before (Figure 1). The existence of both gradual,
quantitative changes and relatively sudden, qualitative changes in the world
has led researchers who study cognitive development to ask whether changes
in childrens thinking are gradual and continuous or sudden and discontinuous.
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Figure 1: Continuous and discontinuous development. Some researchers see development

as a continuous gradual process, much like a maple tree growing steadily in height and crosssectional area. Other researchers see development as a progression of discontinuous stages,
involving rapid discontinuous changes, such as those in the life cycle of a ladybug, separated
by longer periods of slow, gradual change.
The great Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget proposed that childrens thinking
progresses through a series of four discrete stages. By stages, he meant
periods during which children reasoned similarly about many superficially
different problems, with the stages occurring in a fixed order and the thinking
within different stages differing in fundamental ways. The four stages that
Piaget hypothesized were the sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years), the
preoperational reasoning stage (2 to 6 or 7 years), the concrete operational
reasoning stage (6 or 7 to 11 or 12 years), and the formal operational reasoning
stage (11 or 12 years and throughout the rest of life).
During the sensorimotor stage, childrens thinking is largely realized through
their perceptions of the world and their physical interactions with it. Their
mental representations are very limited. Consider Piagets object permanence
task, which is one of his most famous problems. If an infant younger than 9
months of age is playing with a favorite toy, and another person removes the
595
toy from view, for example by putting it under an opaque cover and not letting
the infant immediately reach for it, the infant is very likely to make no effort to
retrieve it and to show no emotional distress (Piaget, 1954). This is not due to
their being uninterested in the toy or unable to reach for it; if the same toy is
put under a clear cover, infants below 9 months readily retrieve it (Munakata,
McClelland, Johnson, & Siegler, 1997). Instead, Piaget claimed that infants less
than 9 months do not understand that objects continue to exist even when out
of sight.
During the preoperational stage, according to Piaget, children can solve not
only this simple problem (which they actually can solve after 9 months) but
show a wide variety of other symbolic-representation capabilities, such as those
involved in drawing and using language. However, such 2- to 7-year-olds tend
to focus on a single dimension, even when solving problems would require
them to consider multiple dimensions. This is evident in Piagets (1952)
conservation problems. For example, if a glass of water is poured into a taller,
thinner glass, children below age 7 generally say that there now is more water
than before. Similarly, if a clay ball is reshaped into a long, thin sausage, they
claim that there is now more clay, and if a row of coins is spread out, they claim
that there are now more coins. In all cases, the children are focusing on one
dimension, while ignoring the changes in other dimensions (for example, the
greater width of the glass and the clay ball).
Children overcome this tendency to focus on a single dimension during the
concrete operations stage, and think logically in most situations. However,
according to Piaget, they still cannot think in systematic scientific ways, even
when such thinking would be useful. Thus, if asked to find out which variables
influence the period that a pendulum takes to complete its arc, and given
weights that they can attach to strings in order to do experiments with the
pendulum to find out, most children younger than age 12, perform biased
experiments from which no conclusion can be drawn, and then conclude that
whatever they originally believed is correct. For example, if a boy believed that
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weight was the only variable that mattered, he might put the heaviest weight
on the shortest string and push it the hardest, and then conclude that just as
he thought, weight is the only variable that matters (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958).
Finally, in the formal operations period, children attain the reasoning power
of mature adults, which allows them to solve the pendulum problem and a wide
range of other problems. However, this formal operations stage tends not to
occur without exposure to formal education in scientific reasoning, and appears
to be largely or completely absent from some societies that do not provide this
type of education.
Although Piagets theory has been very influential, it has not gone
unchallenged. Many more recent researchers have obtained findings indicating
that cognitive development is considerably more continuous than Piaget
claimed. For example, Diamond (1985) found that on the object permanence
task described above, infants show earlier knowledge if the waiting period is
shorter. At age 6 months, they retrieve the hidden object if the wait is no longer
than 2 seconds; at 7 months, they retrieve it if the wait is no longer than 4
seconds; and so on. Even earlier, at 3 or 4 months, infants show surprise in the
form of longer looking times if objects suddenly appear to vanish with no
obvious cause (Baillargeon, 1987). Similarly, childrens specific experiences can
greatly influence when developmental changes occur. Children of pottery
makers in Mexican villages, for example, know that reshaping clay does not
change the amount of clay at much younger ages than children who do not
have similar experiences (Price-Williams, Gordon, & Ramirez, 1969).
So, is cognitive development fundamentally continuous or fundamentally
discontinuous? A reasonable answer seems to be, It depends on how you look
at it and how often you look. For example, under relatively facilitative
circumstances, infants show early forms of object permanence by 3 or 4 months,
and they gradually extend the range of times for which they can remember
hidden objects as they grow older. However, on Piagets original object
permanence task, infants do quite quickly change toward the end of their first
597
year from not reaching for hidden toys to reaching for them, even after theyve
experienced a substantial delay before being allowed to reach. Thus, the debate
between those who emphasize discontinuous, stage-like changes in cognitive
development and those who emphasize gradual continuous changes remains
a lively one.
Applications to Education
Understanding how children think and learn has proven useful for improving
education. One example comes from the area of reading. Cognitive
developmental research has shown that phonemic awarenessthat is,
awareness of the component sounds within wordsis a crucial skill in learning
to read. To measure awareness of the component sounds within words,
researchers ask children to decide whether two words rhyme, to decide whether
the words start with the same sound, to identify the component sounds within
words, and to indicate what would be left if a given sound were removed from
a word. Kindergartners performance on these tasks is the strongest predictor
of reading achievement in third and fourth grade, even stronger than IQ or
social class background (Nation, 2008). Moreover, teaching these skills to
randomly chosen 4- and 5-year-olds results in their being better readers years
later (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Another educational application of cognitive developmental research
involves the area of mathematics. Even before they enter kindergarten, the
mathematical knowledge of children from low-income backgrounds lags far
behind that of children from more affluent backgrounds. Ramani and Siegler
(2008) hypothesized that this difference is due to the children in middle- and
upper-income families engaging more frequently in numerical activities, for
example playing numerical board games such as Chutes and Ladders. Chutes
and Ladders is a game with a number in each square; children start at the
number one and spin a spinner or throw a dice to determine how far to move
598
their token. Playing this game seemed likely to teach children about numbers,
because in it, larger numbers are associated with greater values on a variety of
dimensions. In particular, the higher the number that a childs token reaches,
the greater the distance the token will have traveled from the starting point,
the greater the number of physical movements the child will have made in
moving the token from one square to another, the greater the number of
number words the child will have said and heard, and the more time will have
passed since the beginning of the game. These spatial, kinesthetic, verbal, and
time-based cues provide a broad-based, multisensory foundation for
knowledge of numerical magnitudes (the sizes of numbers), a type of
knowledge that is closely related to mathematics achievement test scores
(Booth & Siegler, 2006).
Playing this numerical board game for roughly 1 hour, distributed over a 2week period, improved low-income childrens knowledge of numerical
magnitudes, ability to read printed numbers, and skill at learning novel
arithmetic problems. The gains lasted for months after the game-playing
experience (Ramani & Siegler, 2008; Siegler & Ramani, 2009). An advantage of
this type of educational intervention is that it has minimal if any costa parent
could just draw a game on a piece of paper.
Understanding of cognitive development is advancing on many different
fronts. One exciting area is linking changes in brain activity to changes in
childrens thinking (Nelson et al., 2006). Although many people believe that brain
maturation is something that occurs before birth, the brain actually continues
to change in large ways for many years thereafter. For example, a part of the
brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is located at the front of the brain and
is particularly involved with planning and flexible problem solving, continues
to develop throughout adolescence (Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006). Such new
research domains, as well as enduring issues such as nature and nurture,
continuity and discontinuity, and how to apply cognitive development research
to education, insure that cognitive development will continue to be an exciting
599
area in the coming years.
600
Outside Resources
Book: Frye, D., Baroody, A., Burchinal, M., Carver, S. M., Jordan, N. C., &
McDowell, J. (2013). Teaching math to young children: A practice guide.
Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional
Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of
Education.
Book: Goswami, U. G. (2010). The Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive

Development. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Book: Kuhn, D., & Siegler, R. S. (Vol. Eds.). (2006). Volume 2: Cognition,
perception, and language. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.), Handbook
of child psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Book: Miller, P. H. (2011). Theories of developmental psychology (5th ed.).

New York: Worth.
Book: Siegler, R. S., & Alibali, M. W. (2004). Children's thinking (4th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
1. Why are there different theories of cognitive development? Why dont
researchers agree on which theory is the right one?
2. Do childrens natures differ, or do differences among children only reflect
differences in their experiences?
3. Do you see development as more continuous or more discontinuous?
4. Can you think of ways other than those described in the chapter in which
research on cognitive development could be used to improve education?
Vocabulary
Chutes and Ladders
A numerical board game that seems to be useful for building numerical
knowledge.
Concrete operations stage
Piagetian stage between ages 7 and 12 when children can think logically about
concrete situations but not engage in systematic scientific reasoning.
Conservation problems
Problems pioneered by Piaget in which physical transformation of an object or
set of objects changes a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity
that is being asked about.
Continuous development
Ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather
than through sudden jumps.
Depth perception
The ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself of objects in the
environment.
Discontinuous development
Discontinuous development
Formal operations stage
Piagetian stage starting at age 12 years and continuing for the rest of life, in
which adolescents may gain the reasoning powers of educated adults.
Information processing theories

Theories that focus on describing the cognitive processes that underlie thinking
at any one age and cognitive growth over time.
Nature
The genes that children bring with them to life and that influence all aspects of
their development.
Numerical magnitudes
The sizes of numbers.
Nurture
The environments, starting with the womb, that influence all aspects of
childrens development.
Object permanence task

The Piagetian task in which infants below about 9 months of age fail to search
for an object that is removed from their sight and, if not allowed to search
immediately for the object, act as if they do not know that it continues to exist.
Phonemic awareness
Awareness of the component sounds within words.
Piagets theory
Theory that development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages:
the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
stages.
Preoperational reasoning stage

Period within Piagetian theory from age 2 to 7 years, in which children can
represent objects through drawing and language but cannot solve logical
reasoning problems, such as the conservation problems.
Qualitative changes
Large, fundamental change, as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly; stage
theories such as Piagets posit that each stage reflects qualitative change relative
to previous stages.
Quantitative changes
Gradual, incremental change, as in the growth of a pine trees girth.
Sensorimotor stage
Period within Piagetian theory from birth to age 2 years, during which children
come to represent the enduring reality of objects.
Sociocultural theories
Theory founded in large part by Lev Vygotsky that emphasizes how other people
and the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture influence
childrens development.
Reference List
Baillargeon, R. (1987). Object permanence in 3 1/2- and 4 1/2-month-old infants.
Developmental Psychology, 23, 655664.
Baker, L., Dreher, M. J., & Guthrie, J. T., (Eds.). (2000). Engaging young readers:
Promoting achievement and motivation. New York: Guilford.
Bartrip, J., Morton, J., & De Schonen, S. (2001). Responses to mother's face in 3week to 5-month old infants. British Journal of Developmental Psychology,
19, 219232
Blakemore, S.-J., & Choudhury, S. (2006). Development of the adolescent brain:
Implications for executive function and social cognition. Journal of Child
Psychiatry and Psychology, 47, 296312.
Booth, J. L., & Siegler, R. S. (2006). Developmental and individual differences in
pure numerical estimation. Developmental Psychology, 41, 189201.
DeVries, R. (1969). Constancy of genetic identity in the years three to six.
Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 34, 127.
Diamond, A. (1985). Development of the ability to use recall to guide action, as
indicated by infants' performance on AB. Child Development, 56, 868883.
Held, R. (1993). What can rates of development tell us about underlying
mechanisms? In C. E. Granrud (Ed.), Visual perception and cognition in
infancy (pp. 7590). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood
to adolescence. New York: Basic Books.

Langlois, J. H., Ritter, J. M., Casey, R. J., & Sawin, D. B. (1995). Infant attractiveness
predicts maternal behaviors and attitudes. Developmental Psychology, 31,
464472.
Munakata, Y., McClelland, J. L., Johnson, M. H., & Siegler, R. S. (1997). Rethinking
infant knowledge: Toward an adaptive process account of successes and
failures in object permanence tasks. Psychological Review, 104, 686 713.
Nation, K. (2008). Learning to read words. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental
Psychology, 61, 1121 1133.
National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based
assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its
implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development.
Nelson, C. A., Thomas, K. M., & de Haan, M. (2006). Neural bases of cognitive
development. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) & D. Kuhn & R. S.
Siegler (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Volume 2: Cognition,
perception, and language (6th ed., pp. 357). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child. New York: BasicBooks.
Piaget, J. (1952). The childs concept of number. New York: W. W. Norton.
Price-Williams, D. R., Gordon, W., & Ramirez, M. (1969). Skill and conservation:
A study of pottery making children. Developmental Psychology, 1, 769.
Ramani, G. B., & Siegler, R. S. (2008). Promoting broad and stable improvements
in low-income childrens numerical knowledge through playing number
board games. Child Development, 79, 375394.
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theory of genotype-environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424435.
Siegler, R. S., & Ramani, G. B. (2009). Playing linear number board gamesbut
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circular
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mother-infant interaction: A growth curve analysis. Developmental
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Cognitive Development in Childhood by Robert

Siegler is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Social and Personality

Development in Childhood
Ross Thompson
University of California, Davis
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Childhood social and personality development emerges through the interaction
of social influences, biological maturation, and the childs representations of
the social world and the self. This interaction is illustrated in a discussion of the
influence of significant relationships, the development of social understanding,
the growth of personality, and the development of social and emotional
competence in childhood.
Learning Objectives
Provide specific examples of how the interaction of social experience,

biological maturation, and the childs representations of experience and the
self provide the basis for growth in social and personality development.
Describe the significant contributions of parentchild and peer relationships

to the development of social skills and personality in childhood.
Explain how achievements in social understanding occur in childhood.

Moreover, do scientists believe that infants and young children are
egocentric?
Describe the association of temperament with personality development.
Explain what is social and emotional competence and provide some

examples of how it develops in childhood.
Introduction
How have I become the kind of person I am today? Every adult ponders this
question from time to time. The answers that readily come to mind include the
influences of parents, peers, temperament, a moral compass, a strong sense
of self, and sometimes critical life experiences such as parental divorce. Social
and personality development encompasses these and many other influences
on the growth of the person. In addition, it addresses questions that are at the
heart of understanding how we develop as unique people. How much are we
products of nature or nurture? How enduring are the influences of early
experiences? The study of social and personality development offers
perspective on these and other issues, often by showing how complex and
multifaceted are the influences on developing children, and thus the intricate
processes that have made you the person you are today (Thompson, 2006a).
Understanding social and personality development requires looking at
children from three perspectives that interact to shape development. The first
is the social context in which each child lives, especially the relationships that
provide security, guidance, and knowledge. The second is biological maturation
that supports developing social and emotional competencies and underlies
temperamental individuality. The third is childrens developing representations
of themselves and the social world. Social and personality development is best
understood as the continuous interaction between these social, biological, and
representational aspects of psychological development.
Relationships
This interaction can be observed in the development of the earliest relationships
between infants and their parents in the first year. Virtually all infants living in
normal circumstances develop strong emotional attachments to those who
care for them. Psychologists believe that the development of these attachments
nobaproject.com - Social and Personality Development in Childhood
613
is as biologically natural as learning to walk and that they are not simply a
byproduct of the parents provision of food or warmth. Rather, attachments
have evolved in humans because they promote the childs motivation to stay
close to those who care for them and, as a consequence, to benefit from the
learning, security, guidance, warmth, and affirmation that close relationships
provide (Cassidy, 2008).
Although nearly all infants develop emotional attachments to their
caregivers, they vary in the security of those attachments. Infants become
securely attached when their parents respond sensitively to them, and
consequently these infants have confidence that their caregivers will provide
support when needed. Infants become insecurely attached in the context of
insensitive care, and these infants tend to respond avoidantly, resistantly, or in
a disorganized manner (Belsky & Pasco Fearon, 2008). The different behaviors
of securely and insecurely attached infants can be observed especially when
the infant needs the caregivers support, and researchers use a standard
laboratory procedure, called the Strange Situation, that involves brief
separations from the caregiver to assess the Strange Situation (Solomon &
George, 2008). Infants can be securely or insecurely attached with mothers,
fathers, and other regular caregivers, and they can differ in their security with
different people. The security of attachment is an important cornerstone of
social and personality development because infants and young children who
are securely attached have been found also to develop stronger friendships
with peers, are more advanced in emotion understanding and early conscience
development, and have a more positive self-concept compared with insecurely
attached children (Thompson, 2008). This is consistent with the view of
attachment theory that the experiences of care leading to a secure or insecure
attachment shapes young childrens developing representations of what people
are like, how to interact with them, and the self.
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As children mature, parentchild relationships naturally change. Preschool

and grade-school children are more capable, have their own preferences, and
sometimes refuse or seek to compromise with parental expectations. This can
lead to greater parentchild conflict, and how conflict is managed by parents
further shapes the quality of parentchild relationships. In general, children
develop greater competence and self-confidence when parents have high (but
reasonable) expectations for childrens behavior, communicate well with them,
are warm and responsive, and use reasoning (rather than coercion) as preferred
responses to childrens misbehavior. This kind of parenting style has been
described as authoritative (Baumrind, 2013), by contrast with authoritarian,
uninvolved, or permissive parenting styles (see Table 1).
Table 1. Comparison of Four Parenting Styles
Parental roles in relation to their children change in other ways also. Parents
increasingly become mediators (or gatekeepers) of their childrens involvement
with peers and activities outside the family. Their communication (and practice)
of values contributes to childrens academic achievement, moral development,
and activity preferences. As children reach adolescence, the parentchild
relationship increasingly becomes one of coregulation, in which each partner
recognizes the childs growing competence and autonomy and together they
rebalance authority relations.
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Family relationships are significantly affected by conditions outside the

home. The Family Stress Model describes, based on family observations, how
financial difficulty is associated with parents depressed mood, which in turn
leads to marital problems and poor parenting that contributes to poorer child
adjustment (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010). Within the home, parental marital
difficulty or divorce affects more than half the children growing up today in the
United States. Divorce is typically associated with economic stresses for children
and parents, the renegotiation of parentchild relationships (with one parent
typically as primary custodian and the other assuming a visiting relationship),
and many other significant adjustments for children. Divorce is often regarded
by children as a sad turning point in their lives, although for most it is not
associated with long-term problems of adjustment (Emery, 1999).
Peer Relationships
Parentchild relationships are not the only significant relationships in a childs
life. Peer relationships are also important. This is because social interaction
with another child who is similar in age, skills, and knowledge provokes the
development of many social skills that are valuable for the rest of life (Bukowski,
Buhrmester, & Underwood, 2011). In peer relationships, children learn how to
initiate and maintain social interaction with another child. They learn skills for
managing conflict, such as through turn-taking, compromise, and bargaining.
They play with other childrenplaying with toys and other objects as infants,
pretend play as preschoolers, and later engaging in games with rules in the
primary grades. In each case, play involves the mutual, sometimes complex,
coordination of goals, actions, and understanding. Children develop friendships
with other children with whom they are compatible, and who become sources
of security and support that are different from the support that parents provide.
616
Peer relationships can be challenging as well as supportive (Rubin, Coplan,

Chen, Bowker, & McDonald, 2011). Being accepted by other children is an
important source of affirmation and self-esteem, but peer rejection can
foreshadow later behavior problems, especially when children are rejected
because of their aggressive behavior. With increasing age, children confront
the challenges of bullying and peer victimization and managing conformity
pressures. Social comparison with peers is an important means by which
children evaluate their skills, knowledge, and personal qualities, but it may cause
them to feel that they do not measure up well against others. With the approach
of adolescence, peer relationships become focused on psychological intimacy,
involving personal disclosure, vulnerability, and loyalty (or its betrayal). Each of
these qualities of peer relationships require developing very different social
and emotional skills than those that emerge in parentchild relationships. They
also illustrate the many ways that peer relationships influence the growth of
personality and self-concept.
Social Understanding
As we have seen, childrens experience of relationships at home and the peer
group contributes to an expanding repertoire of social and emotional skills and
also to broadened social understanding. In these relationships, children
develop expectations for specific people (leading, for example, to secure or
insecure attachments to parents), understanding of how to interact with adults
and peers, and developing self-concept based on how others respond to them.
These relationships are also significant forums for emotional development.
Remarkably, young children begin developing social understanding very
early in life. Before the end of the first year, infants are aware that other people
have perceptions, feelings, and other mental states that affect their behavior,
and which are different from the childs own mental states. This can be readily
observed in a process called social referencing, in which an infant looks to the
617
mothers face when confronted with an unfamiliar person or situation (Feinman,

1992). If the mother looks calm and reassuring, the infant responds positively
as if the situation is safe. If the mother looks fearful or distressed, the infant is
likely to respond with wariness or distress because the mothers expression
signals danger. In a remarkably insightful manner, therefore, infants show an
awareness that even though they are uncertain about the unfamiliar situation,
their mother is not, and that by reading the emotion in her face, infants can
learn about whether the circumstance is safe or dangerous, and how to
respond.
Although developmental scientists used to believe that infants are
egocentricthat is, focused on their own perceptions and experiencethey
now realize that the opposite is true. Infants are aware at an early stage that
people have different mental states, and this motivates them to try to figure
out what others are feeling, intending, wanting, and thinking, and how these
mental states affect their behavior. They are beginning, in other words, to
develop a theory of mind,and although their understanding of mental states
begins very simply, it rapidly expands (Wellman, 2011). For example, if an 18month-old watches an adult try repeatedly to drop a necklace into a cup but
inexplicably fail each time, they will immediately put the necklace into the cup
themselvesthus completing what the adult intended, but failed, to do. In doing
so, they reveal their awareness of the intentions underlying the adults behavior
(Meltzoff, 1995). Carefully designed experimental studies show that by late in
the preschool years, young children understand that anothers beliefs can be
mistaken rather than correct, that memories can affect how you feel, and that
ones emotions can be hidden from others (Wellman, 2011). Social
understanding grows significantly as childrens theory of mind develops.
How do these achievements in social understanding occur? One answer is
that young children are remarkably sensitive observers of other people, making
connections between their emotional expressions, words, and behavior to
derive simple inferences about mental states (e.g., concluding, for example,
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that what Mommy is looking at is in her mind) (Gopnik, Meltzoff, & Kuhl, 2001).
This is especially likely to occur in relationships with people whom the child
knows well, consistent with the ideas of attachment theory discussed above.
Growing language skills give young children words with which to represent these
mental states (e.g., mad, wants) and talk about them with others. Thus in
conversation with their parents about everyday experiences, children learn
much about peoples mental states from how adults talk about them (Your
sister was sad because she thought Daddy was coming home.) (Thompson,
2006b). Developing social understanding is, in other words, based on childrens
everyday interactions with others and their careful interpretations of what they
see and hear. There are also some scientists who believe that infants are
biologically prepared to perceive people in a special way, as organisms with an
internal mental life, and this facilitates their interpretation of peoples behavior
with reference to those mental states (Leslie, 1994).
Personality
Parents look into the faces of their newborn infants and wonder what kind of
person this child will become. They scrutinize their babys preferences,
characteristics, and responses to discern the temperamental qualities that form
the basis for developing personality. They are quite right to do so, because
temperament is a foundation for personality growth. But temperament
(defined as early emerging differences in reactivity and self-regulation) is not
the whole story of personality development. Although temperament is
biologically based, it interacts with the influence of experience from the moment
of birth (if not before) to shape personality (Rothbart, 2011). Temperamental
dispositions are affected, for example, by the support or harshness of parental
care. More generally, personality is shaped by the goodness of fit between the
childs temperamental qualities and characteristics of the environment (Chess
& Thomas, 1999). If a child with a temperamentally high activity level grows up
619
in a family that enjoys physically vigorous activities, this is a good fit or match
that supports positive personality growth. If the same child grows up in a family
that is quiet and sedentary, the result is like gears that do not mesh well, and
we might not expect such positive development. Personality is the result,
therefore, of the continuous interaction of biological dispositions and
experience, and the same is true for many other aspects of social and
personality development.
Personality develops from temperament in other ways (Thompson, Winer,
&
Goodvin,
2010).
As
children
mature
biologically,
temperamental
characteristics unfold and change over time. A newborn is not capable of much
self-control, but as brain-based capacities for self-control progressively mature,
temperamental differences in self-regulation become more apparent. In
addition, personality incorporates many other features of the childs
individuality besides temperament. Childrens developing self-concept, their
motivations to achieve or to socialize, their values and goals, their coping styles,
their sense of responsibility and conscientiousness, and many other qualities
are encompassed into personality. These qualities are influenced by biological
dispositions but even more by the childs experiences with others, particularly
in close relationships, that guide the growth of individual characteristics.
Indeed, personality development begins with the biological foundations of
temperament but becomes increasingly elaborated, extended, and refined over
time. The newborn that parents gazed upon thus becomes an adult with a
personality of depth and nuance.
Social and Emotional Competence

Social and personality development is built from the social, biological, and
representational influences discussed above. These influences result in
important developmental outcomes that matter to children, parents, and
society: a young adults capacity to engage in socially constructive actions
620
(helping, caring, sharing with others), to curb hostile or aggressive impulses, to

live according to meaningful moral values, to develop a healthy identity and
sense of self, and to develop talents and achieve success in using them. These
are some of the developmental outcomes that denote social and emotional
competence.
These achievements of social and personality development derive from the
interaction of many social, biological, and representational influences.
Consider, for example, the development of conscience, which is an early
foundation for moral development. Conscience consists of the cognitive,
emotional, and social influences that cause young children to create and act
consistently with internal standards of conduct (Kochanska, 2002). Conscience
emerges from young childrens experiences with parents, particularly in the
development of a mutually responsive relationship that motivates young
children to respond constructively to the parents requests and expectations.
Biologically based temperament is involved, as some children are
temperamentally more capable of motivated self-regulation (a quality called
effortful control) than are others, while some children are dispositionally more
prone to the fear and anxiety that parental disapproval can evoke. Conscience
development grows through a good fit between the childs temperamental
qualities and how parents communicate and reinforce behavioral expectations.
Moreover, as an illustration of the interaction of genes and experience, one
research group found that young children with a particular gene allele (the 5HTTLPR) were low on measures of conscience development when they had
previously experienced unresponsive maternal care, but children with the same
allele growing up with responsive care showed strong later performance on
conscience measures (Kochanska, Kim, Barry, & Philibert, 2011).
Conscience development also expands as young children begin to represent
moral values and think of themselves as moral beings. By the end of the
preschool years, for example, young children develop a moral self by which
they think of themselves as people who want to do the right thing, who feel
621
badly after misbehaving, and who feel uncomfortable when others misbehave.
In the development of conscience, young children become more socially and
emotionally competent in a manner that provides a foundation for later moral
conduct (Thompson, 2012).
The development of gender and gender identity is likewise an interaction
among social, biological, and representational influences (Ruble, Martin, &
Berenbaum, 2006). Young children learn about gender from parents, peers, and
others in society, and develop their own conceptions of the attributes associated
with maleness or femaleness (called gender schemas). They also negotiate
biological transitions (such as puberty) that cause their sense of themselves
and their sexual identity to mature.
Each of these examples of the growth of social and emotional competence
illustrates not only the interaction of social, biological, and representational
influences, but also how their development unfolds over an extended period.
Early influences are important, but not determinative, because the capabilities
required for mature moral conduct, gender identity, and other outcomes
continue to develop throughout childhood, adolescence, and even the adult
years.
Conclusion
As the preceding sentence suggests, social and personality development
continues through adolescence and the adult years, and it is influenced by the
same constellation of social, biological, and representational influences
discussed for childhood. Changing social relationships and roles, biological
maturation and (much later) decline, and how the individual represents
experience and the self continue to form the bases for development throughout
life. In this respect, when an adult looks forward rather than retrospectively to
ask, what kind of person am I becoming?a similarly fascinating, complex,
multifaceted interaction of developmental processes lies ahead.
622
623
Outside Resources
Web: Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University
http://developingchild.harvard.edu
Web: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
http://casel.org
1. If parentchild relationships naturally change as the child matures, would
you expect that the security of attachment might also change over time?
What reasons would account for your expectation?
2. In what ways does a childs developing theory of mind resemble how
scientists create, refine, and use theories in their work? In other words,
would it be appropriate to think of children as informal scientists in their
development of social understanding?
3. If there is a poor goodness of fit between a childs temperament and
characteristics of parental care, what can be done to create a better match?
Provide a specific example of how this might occur.
4. What are the contributions that parents offer to the development of social
and emotional competence in children? Answer this question again with
respect to peer contributions.
Vocabulary
Authoritative
A parenting style characterized by high (but reasonable)
expectations for childrens behavior, good communication, warmth and
nurturance, and the use of reasoning (rather than coercion) as preferred
responses to childrens misbehavior.
Conscience
The cognitive, emotional, and social influences that cause young children to
create and act consistently with internal standards of conduct.
Effortful control
A temperament quality that enables children to be more
successful in motivated self-regulation.
Family Stress Model
A description of the negative effects of family financial
difficulty on child adjustment through the effects of economic stress on parents
depressed mood, increased marital problems, and poor parenting.
Gender schemas
Organized beliefs and expectations about maleness and femaleness that guide
childrens thinking about gender.
Goodness of fit
The match or synchrony between a childs temperament and characteristics of
parental care that contributes to positive or negative personality development.
A good fit means that parents have accommodated to the childs
temperamental attributes, and this contributes to positive personality growth
and better adjustment.

Security of attachment
An infants confidence in the sensitivity and responsiveness
of a caregiver, especially when he or she is needed. Infants can be securely
attached or insecurely attached.
Social referencing
The process by which one individual consults anothers
emotional expressions to determine how to evaluate and respond to
circumstances that are ambiguous or uncertain.
Temperament
Early emerging differences in reactivity and self-regulation,
which constitutes a foundation for personality development.
Theory of mind
Childrens growing understanding of the mental states that
affect peoples behavior.
Reference List
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status. In R. E. Larzelere, A. Sheffield, & A. W. Harrist (Eds.), Authoritative
parenting: Synthesizing nurturance and discipline for optimal child
development (pp. 1134). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Belsky, J., & Pasco Fearon, R. M. (2008). Precursors of attachment security. In J.
Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research,
and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 295316). New York, NY: Guilford.
Bukowski, W. M., Buhrmester, D., & Underwood, M. K. (2011). Peer relations as
a developmental context. In M. K. Underwood & L. H. Rosen (Eds.), Social
development(pp. 153179). New York, NY: Guilford
Cassidy, J. (2008). The nature of the childs ties. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.),
Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd
ed., pp. 322). New York, NY: Guilford.
Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1999). Goodness of fit: Clinical applications from infancy
through adult life. New York, NY: Brunner-Mazel/Taylor & Francis.
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family
processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72,
685704
Emery, R. E. (1999). Marriage, divorce, and childrens adjustment (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Feinman, S. (Ed.) (1992). Social referencing and the social construction of reality
in infancy. New York, NY: Plenum.
Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2001). The scientist in the crib. New York,
NY: HarperCollins.
Kochanska, G. (2002). Mutually responsive orientation between mothers and
their young children: A context for the early development of conscience.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 191195.
Kochanska, G., Kim, S., Barry, R. A., & Philibert, R. A. (2011). Childrens genotypes
interact with maternal responsive care in predicting childrens competence:
Diathesis-stress
or
differential
susceptibility?
Development
and
Psychopathology, 23, 605-616.

Leslie, A. M. (1994). ToMM, ToBy, and agency: Core architecture and domain
specificity in cognition and culture. In L. Hirschfeld & S. Gelman (Eds.),
Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition and culture (pp. 119-148).
Meltzoff, A. N. (1995). Understanding the intentions of others: Re-enactment of
intended acts by 18-month-old children. Developmental Psychology, 31,
838-850.
Rothbart, M. K. (2011). Becoming who we are: Temperament and personality in
development. New York, NY: Guilford.
Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R., Chen, X., Bowker, J., & McDonald, K. L. (2011). Peer
relationships in childhood. In M. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.),
Developmental science: An advanced textbook (6th ed. pp. 519570). New
York, NY: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.

Ruble, D. N., Martin, C., & Berenbaum, S. (2006). Gender development. In W.
Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of
child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development
(6th ed., pp. 858932). New York, NY: Wiley.
Solomon, J., & George, C. (2008). The measurement of attachment security and
related constructs in infancy and early childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver
(Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications
(2nd ed., pp. 383416). New York, NY: Guilford.
Thompson, R. A. (2012). Whither the preconventional child? Toward a life-span
moral development theory. Child Development Perspectives, 6, 423429.
Thompson, R. A. (2008). Early attachment and later development: Familiar
questions, new answers. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of
attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 348
365). New York, NY: Guilford.
Thompson, R. A. (2006a). Conversation and developing understanding:
Introduction to the special issue. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 116.
Thompson, R. A. (2006b). The development of the person: Social understanding,
relationships, self, conscience. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) &
N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social,
emotional, and personality development (6th ed., pp. 2498). New York, NY:
Wiley.
Thompson, R. A., Winer, A. C., & Goodvin, R. (2010). The individual child:
Temperament, emotion, self, and personality. In M. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb

(Eds.), Developmental science: An advanced textbook (6th ed., pp. 423464).
New York, NY: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
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284). New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Social and Personality Development in Childhood
by Ross Thompson is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Adolescent Development
Jennifer Lansford
Duke University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Adolescence is a period that begins with puberty and ends with the transition
to adulthood (approximately ages 1020). Physical changes associated with
puberty are triggered by hormones. Cognitive changes include improvements
in complex and abstract thought, as well as development that happens at
different rates in distinct parts of the brain and increases adolescents
propensity for risky behavior because increases in sensation-seeking and
reward motivation precede increases in cognitive control. Adolescents
relationships with parents go through a period of redefinition in which
adolescents become more autonomous, and aspects of parenting, such as distal
monitoring and psychological control, become more salient. Peer relationships
are important sources of support and companionship during adolescence yet
can also promote problem behaviors. Same-sex peer groups evolve into mixedsex peer groups, and adolescents romantic relationships tend to emerge from
these groups. Identity formation occurs as adolescents explore and commit to
different roles and ideological positions. Nationality, gender, ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, religious background, sexual orientation, and genetic
factors shape how adolescents behave and how others respond to them, and
are sources of diversity in adolescence.
Learning Objectives
Describe major features of physical, cognitive, and social development

during adolescence.
Understand why adolescence is a period of heightened risk taking.
Be able to explain sources of diversity in adolescent development.
Adolescence Defined
Adolescence is a developmental stage that has been defined as starting with
puberty and ending with the transition to adulthood (approximately ages 10
20). Adolescence has evolved historically, with evidence indicating that this stage
is lengthening as individuals start puberty earlier and transition to adulthood
later than in the past. Puberty today begins, on average, at age 1011 years for
girls and 1112 years for boys. This average age of onset has decreased
gradually over time since the 19th century by 34 months per decade, which
has been attributed to a range of factors including better nutrition, obesity,
increased father absence, and other environmental factors (Steinberg, 2013).
Completion of formal education, financial independence from parents,
marriage, and parenthood have all been markers of the end of adolescence
and beginning of adulthood, and all of these transitions happen, on average,
later now than in the past. In fact, the prolonging of adolescence has prompted
the introduction of a new developmental period called emerging adulthood
that captures these developmental changes out of adolescence and into
adulthood, occurring from approximately ages 18 to 29 (Arnett, 2000).
This chapter will outline changes that occur during adolescence in three
domains: physical, cognitive, and social. Within the social domain, changes in
relationships with parents, peers, and romantic partners will be considered.
Next, the chapter turns to adolescents psychological and behavioral
adjustment, including identity formation, aggression and antisocial behavior,
anxiety and depression, and academic achievement. Finally, the chapter
summarizes sources of diversity in adolescents experiences and development.
nobaproject.com - Adolescent Development
636
Physical Changes
Physical changes of puberty mark the onset of adolescence (Lerner & Steinberg,
2009). For both boys and girls, these changes include a growth spurt in height,
growth of pubic and underarm hair, and skin changes (e.g., pimples). Boys also
experience growth in facial hair and a deepening of their voice. Girls experience
breast development and begin menstruating. These pubertal changes are
driven by hormones, particularly an increase in testosterone for boys and
estrogen for girls.
Cognitive Changes
Major changes in the structure and functioning of the brain occur during
adolescence and result in cognitive and behavioral developments (Steinberg,
2008). Cognitive changes during adolescence include a shift from concrete to
more abstract and complex thinking. Such changes are fostered by
improvements during early adolescence in attention, memory, processing
speed, and metacognition (ability to think about thinking and therefore make
better use of strategies like mnemonic devices that can improve thinking). Early
in adolescence, changes in the brains dopaminergic system contribute to
increases in adolescents sensation-seeking and reward motivation. Later in
adolescence, the brains cognitive control centers in the prefrontal cortex
develop, increasing adolescents self-regulation and future orientation. The
difference in timing of the development of these different regions of the brain
contributes to more risk taking during middle adolescence because adolescents
are motivated to seek thrills that sometimes come from risky behavior, such as
reckless driving, smoking, or drinking, and have not yet developed the cognitive
control to resist impulses or focus equally on the potential risks (Steinberg,
2008). One of the worlds leading experts on adolescent development, Laurence
Steinberg, likens this to engaging a powerful engine before the braking system
637
is in place. The result is that adolescents are more prone to risky behaviors than
are children or adults.
Social Changes
Parents. Although peers take on greater importance during adolescence, family
relationships remain important too. One of the key changes during adolescence
involves a renegotiation of parentchild relationships. As adolescents strive for
more independence and autonomy during this time, different aspects of
parenting become more salient. For example, parents distal supervision and
monitoring become more important as adolescents spend more time away
from parents and in the presence of peers. Parental monitoring encompasses
a wide range of behaviors such as parents attempts to set rules and know their
adolescents friends, activities, and whereabouts, in addition to adolescents
willingness to disclose information to their parents (Stattin & Kerr, 2000).
Psychological control, which involves manipulation and intrusion into
adolescents emotional and cognitive world through invalidating adolescents
feelings and pressuring them to think in particular ways (Barber, 1996), is
another aspect of parenting that becomes more salient during adolescence
and is related to more problematic adolescent adjustment.
Peers
As children become adolescents, they usually begin spending more time with
their peers and less time with their families, and these peer interactions are
increasingly unsupervised by adults. Childrens notions of friendship often focus
on shared activities, whereas adolescents notions of friendship increasingly
focus on intimate exchanges of thoughts and feelings. During adolescence, peer
groups evolve from primarily single-sex to mixed-sex. Adolescents within a peer
group tend to be similar to one another in behavior and attitudes, which has
638
been explained as being a function of homophily (adolescents who are similar

to one another choose to spend time together in a birds of a feather flock
together way) and influence (adolescents who spend time together shape each
others behavior and attitudes). One of the most widely studied aspects of
adolescent peer influence is known as deviant peer contagion (Dishion &
Tipsord, 2011), which is the process by which peers reinforce problem behavior
by laughing or showing other signs of approval that then increase the likelihood
of future problem behavior.
Peers can serve both positive and negative functions during adolescence.
Negative peer pressure can lead adolescents to make riskier decisions or
engage in more problematic behavior than they would alone or in the presence
of their family. For example, adolescents are much more likely to drink alcohol,
use drugs, and commit crimes when they are with their friends than when they
are alone or with their family. However, peers also serve as an important source
of social support and companionship during adolescence, and adolescents with
positive peer relationships are happier and better adjusted than those who are
socially isolated or have conflictual peer relationships.
Crowds are an emerging level of peer relationships in adolescence. In
contrast to friendships (which are reciprocal dyadic relationships) and cliques
(which refer to groups of individuals who interact frequently), crowds are
characterized more by shared reputations or images than actual interactions
(Brown & Larson, 2009). These crowds reflect different prototypic identities
(such as jocks or brains) and are often linked with adolescents social status and
peers perceptions of their values or behaviors.
639
Romantic relationships
Adolescence is the developmental period during which romantic relationships
typically first emerge. Initially, same-sex peer groups that were common during
childhood expand into mixed-sex peer groups that are more characteristic of
adolescence. Romantic relationships often form in the context of these mixedsex peer groups (Connolly, Furman, & Konarski, 2000). Although romantic
relationships during adolescence are often short-lived rather than long-term
committed partnerships, their importance should not be minimized.
Adolescents spend a great deal of time focused on romantic relationships, and
their positive and negative emotions are more tied to romantic relationships
(or lack thereof) than to friendships, family relationships, or school (Furman &
Shaffer, 2003). Romantic relationships contribute to adolescents identity
formation, changes in family and peer relationships, and adolescents
emotional and behavioral adjustment.
Furthermore, romantic relationships are centrally connected to adolescents
emerging sexuality. Parents, policymakers, and researchers have devoted a
great deal of attention to adolescents sexuality, in large part because of
concerns related to sexual intercourse, contraception, and preventing teen
pregnancies. However, sexuality involves more than this narrow focus. For
example, adolescence is often when individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual,
or transgender come to perceive themselves as such (Russell, Clarke, & Clary,
2009). Thus, romantic relationships are a domain in which adolescents
experiment with new behaviors and identities.
640
Behavioral and Psychological Adjustment

Identity formation
Theories of adolescent development often focus on identity formation as a
central issue. For example, in Eriksons (1968) classic theory of developmental
stages, identity formation was highlighted as the primary indicator of successful
development during adolescence (in contrast to role confusion, which would
be an indicator of not successfully meeting the task of adolescence). Marcia
(1966) described identify formation during adolescence as involving both
decision points and commitments with respect to ideologies (e.g., religion,
politics) and occupations. He described four identity statuses: foreclosure,
identity diffusion, moratorium, and identity achievement. Foreclosure occurs
when an individual commits to an identity without exploring options. Identity
diffusion occurs when adolescents neither explore nor commit to any identities.
Moratorium is a state in which adolescents are actively exploring options but
have not yet made commitments. Identity achievement occurs when individuals
have explored different options and then made identity commitments. Building
on this work, other researchers have investigated more specific aspects of
identity. For example, Phinney (1989) proposed a model of ethnic identity
development that included stages of unexplored ethnic identity, ethnic identity
search, and achieved ethnic identity.
Aggression and antisocial behavior

Several major theories of the development of antisocial behavior treat
adolescence as an important period. Pattersons (1982) early versus late starter
model of the development of aggressive and antisocial behavior distinguishes
youths whose antisocial behavior begins during childhood (early starters)
641
versus adolescence (late starters). According to the theory, early starters are at
greater risk for long-term antisocial behavior that extends into adulthood than
are late starters. Late starters who become antisocial during adolescence are
theorized to experience poor parental monitoring and supervision, aspects of
parenting that become more salient during adolescence. Poor monitoring and
lack of supervision contribute to increasing involvement with deviant peers,
which in turn promotes adolescents own antisocial behavior. Late starters
desist from antisocial behavior when changes in the environment make other
options more appealing. Similarly, Moffitts (1993) life-course persistent versus
adolescent-limited model distinguishes between antisocial behavior that
begins in childhood versus adolescence. Moffitt regards adolescent-limited
antisocial behavior as resulting from a maturity gap between adolescents
dependence on and control by adults and their desire to demonstrate their
freedom from adult constraint. However, as they continue to develop, and
legitimate adult roles and privileges become available to them, there are fewer
incentives to engage in antisocial behavior, leading to desistance in these
antisocial behaviors.
Anxiety and depression

Developmental models of anxiety and depression also treat adolescence as an
important period, especially in terms of the emergence of gender differences
in prevalence rates that persist through adulthood (Rudolph, 2009). Starting in
early adolescence, compared with males, females have rates of anxiety that are
about twice as high and rates of depression that are 1.5 to 3 times as high
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although the rates vary across specific
anxiety and depression diagnoses, rates for some disorders are markedly
higher in adolescence than in childhood or adulthood. For example, prevalence
rates for specific phobias are about 5% in children and 3%5% in adults but
16% in adolescents. Anxiety and depression are particularly concerning because
642
suicide is one of the leading causes of death during adolescence. Developmental

models focus on interpersonal contexts in both childhood and adolescence
that foster depression and anxiety (e.g., Rudolph, 2009). Family adversity, such
as abuse and parental psychopathology, during childhood sets the stage for
social and behavioral problems during adolescence. Adolescents with such
problems generate stress in their relationships (e.g., by resolving conflict poorly
and excessively seeking reassurance) and select into more maladaptive social
contexts (e.g., misery loves company scenarios in which depressed youths
select other depressed youths as friends and then frequently co-ruminate as
they discuss their problems, exacerbating negative affect and stress). These
processes are intensified for girls compared with boys because girls have more
relationship-oriented goals related to intimacy and social approval, leaving
them more vulnerable to disruption in these relationships. Anxiety and
depression then exacerbate problems in social relationships, which in turn
contribute to the stability of anxiety and depression over time.
Academic achievement
Adolescents spend more waking time in school than in any other context (Eccles
& Roeser, 2011). Academic achievement during adolescence is predicted by
interpersonal
(e.g.,
parental
engagement
in
adolescents
education),
intrapersonal (e.g., intrinsic motivation), and institutional (e.g., school quality)

factors. Academic achievement is important in its own right as a marker of
positive adjustment during adolescence but also because academic
achievement sets the stage for future educational and occupational
opportunities. The most serious consequence of school failure, particularly
dropping out of school, is the high risk of unemployment or underemployment
in adulthood that follows. High achievement can set the stage for college or
future vocational training and opportunities.
643
Diversity
Adolescent development does not necessarily follow the same pathway for all
individuals. Certain features of adolescence, particularly with respect to
biological changes associated with puberty and cognitive changes associated
with brain development, are relatively universal. But other features of
adolescence depend largely on circumstances that are more environmentally
variable. For example, adolescents growing up in one country might have
different opportunities for risk taking than adolescents in a different country,
and supports and sanctions for different behaviors in adolescence depend on
laws and values that might be specific to where adolescents live. Likewise,
different cultural norms regarding family and peer relationships shape
adolescents experiences in these domains. For example, in some countries,
adolescents parents are expected to retain control over major decisions,
whereas in other countries, adolescents are expected to begin sharing in or
taking control of decision making.
Even within the same country, adolescents gender, ethnicity, immigrant
status, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and personality can
shape both how adolescents behave and how others respond to them, creating
diverse developmental contexts for different adolescents. For example, early
puberty (that occurs before most other peers have experienced puberty)
appears to be associated with worse outcomes for girls than boys, likely in part
because girls who enter puberty early tend to associate with older boys, which
in turn is associated with early sexual behavior and substance use. For
adolescents who are ethnic or sexual minorities, discrimination sometimes
presents a set of challenges that nonminorities do not face.
Finally, genetic variations contribute an additional source of diversity in
adolescence. Current approaches emphasize gene X environment interactions,
which often follow a differential susceptibility model (Belsky & Pluess, 2009).
That is, particular genetic variations are considered riskier than others, but
644
genetic variations also can make adolescents more or less susceptible to

environmental
factors.
For
example,
the
association
between
the
CHRM2genotype and adolescent externalizing behavior (aggression and

delinquency)has been found in adolescents whose parents are low in
monitoring behaviors (Dick et al., 2011). Thus, it is important to bear in mind
that individual differences play an important role in adolescent development.
Conclusions
Adolescent development is characterized by biological, cognitive, and social
changes. Social changes are particularly notable as adolescents become more
autonomous from their parents, spend more time with peers, and begin
exploring romantic relationships and sexuality. Adjustment during adolescence
is reflected in identity formation, which often involves a period of exploration
followed by commitments to particular identities. Adolescence is characterized
by risky behavior, which is made more likely by changes in the brain in which
reward-processing centers develop more rapidly than cognitive control
systems, making adolescents more sensitive to rewards than to possible
negative consequences. Despite these generalizations, factors such as country
of residence, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation shape development in
ways that lead to diversity of experiences across adolescence.
645
Outside Resources
Podcasts: Society for Research on Adolescence website with links to podcasts
on a variety of topics related to adolescent development
http://www.s-r-a.org/sra-news/podcasts
Study: Add Health website on one of the biggest longitudinal studies of
adolescence to date
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth
Video: A selection of TED talks on adolescent brain development
http://tinyurl.com/lku4a3k
Web: UNICEF website on adolescents around the world
http://www.unicef.org/adolescence/index.html
1. What can parents do to promote their adolescents positive adjustment?
2. In what ways do changes in brain development and cognition make
adolescents particularly susceptible to peer influence?
3. How could interventions designed to prevent or reduce adolescents
problem behavior be developed to take advantage of what we know about
adolescent development?
4. Reflecting on your own adolescence, provide examples of times when you
think your experience was different from those of your peers as a function
of something unique about you.
5. In what ways was your experience of adolescence different from your
parents experience of adolescence? How do you think adolescence may be
different 20 years from now?
Vocabulary
Crowds
Adolescent peer groups characterized by shared reputations or images.
Deviant peer contagion

The spread of problem behaviors within groups of adolescents.
Differential susceptibility
Genetic factors that make individuals more or less responsive to environmental
experiences.
Foreclosure
Individuals commit to an identity without exploration of options.
Homophily
Adolescents tend to associate with peers who are similar to themselves.
Identity achievement
Individuals have explored different options and then made commitments.
Identity diffusion
Adolescents neither explore nor commit to any roles or ideologies.
Moratorium
State in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not yet made
identity commitments.
Psychological control
Parents manipulation of and intrusion into adolescents emotional and
cognitive world through invalidating adolescents feelings and pressuring them
to think in particular ways.
Reference List
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of
mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late
teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469480.
Barber, B. K. (1996). Parental psychological control: Revisiting a neglected
construct. Child Development, 67, 32963319.
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). Beyond diathesis-stress: Differential susceptibility
to environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 885908.
Brown, B. B., & Larson, J. (2009). Peer relationships in adolescence. In R. M.
Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 74
103). New York, NY: Wiley.
Connolly, J., Furman, W., & Konarski, R. (2000). The role of peers in the emergence
of heterosexual romantic relationships in adolescence. Child Development,
71, 13951408.
Dick, D. M., Meyers, J. L., Latendresse, S. J., Creemers, H. E., Lansford, J. E.,
Huizink, A. C. (2011). CHRM2, parental monitoring, and adolescent
externalizing behavior: Evidence for gene-environment interaction.
Dishion, T. J., & Tipsord, J. M. (2011). Peer contagion in child and adolescent
social and emotional development. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 189
214.
Eccles, J. S., & Roeser, R. W. (2011). Schools as developmental contexts during

adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 225241.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.
Furman, W., & Shaffer, L. (2003). The role of romantic relationships in adolescent
development. In P. Florsheim (Ed.), Adolescent romantic relations and sexual
behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 322). Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Lerner, R. M., & Steinberg, L. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of adolescent psychology.
New York, NY: Wiley.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551558.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life course persistent antisocial
behavior: Developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674701.
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castalia Press.
Phinney, J. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity in minority group adolescents.
Journal of Early Adolescence, 9, 3449.
Rudolph, K. D. (2009). The interpersonal context of adolescent depression. In
S. Nolen-Hoeksema & L. M. Hilt (Eds.), Handbook of depression in
adolescents (pp. 377418). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.
Russell, S. T., Clarke, T. J., & Clary, J. (2009). Are teens post-gay? Contemporary
adolescents sexual identity labels. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38,
884890.
Stattin, H., & Kerr, M. (2000). Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child
Development, 71, 10721085.
Steinberg, L. (2013). Adolescence (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Steinberg, L. (2008). A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risktaking. Developmental Review, 28, 78106.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Adolescent Development by Jennifer Lansford

Attachment Through the

Life Course
R. Chris Fraley
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief review of attachment theory
a theory designed to explain the significance of the close, emotional bonds
that children develop with their caregivers and the implications of those bonds
for understanding personality development. The chapter discusses the origins
of the theory, research on individual differences in attachment security in
infancy and childhood, and the role of attachment in adult relationships.
Learning Objectives
Explain the way the attachment system works and its evolutionary
significance.
Identify three commonly studied attachment patterns and what is known

about the development of those patterns.
Describe what is known about the consequences of secure versus insecure

attachment in adult relationships.
Introduction
Some of the most rewarding experiences in peoples lives involve the
development and maintenance of close relationships. For example, some of
the greatest sources of joy involve falling in love, starting a family, being reunited
with distant loved ones, and sharing experiences with close others. And, not
surprisingly, some of the most painful experiences in peoples lives involve the
disruption of important social bonds, such as separation from a spouse, losing
a parent, or being abandoned by a loved one.
Why do close relationships play such a profound role in human experience?
Attachment theory is one approach to understanding the nature of close
relationships. In this chapter, we review the origins of the theory, the core
theoretical principles, and some ways in which attachment influences human
behavior, thoughts, and feelings across the life course.
Attachment Theory: A Brief History and Core Concepts

Attachment theory was originally developed in the 1940s by John Bowlby, a
British psychoanalyst who was attempting to understand the intense distress
experienced by infants who had been separated from their parents. Bowlby
(1969) observed that infants would go to extraordinary lengths to prevent
separation from their parents or to reestablish proximity to a missing parent.
For example, he noted that children who had been separated from their parents
would often cry, call for their parents, refuse to eat or play, and stand at the
door in desperate anticipation of their parents return. At the time of Bowlbys
initial writings, psychoanalytic writers held that these expressions were
manifestations of immature defense mechanisms that were operating to
repress emotional pain. However, Bowlby observed that such expressions are
common to a wide variety of mammalian species and speculated that these
responses to separation may serve an evolutionary function (see Box X.1).
nobaproject.com - Attachment Through the Life Course
657
Drawing on evolutionary theory, Bowlby (1969) argued that these behaviors

are adaptive responses to separation from a primary attachment figurea
caregiver who provides support, protection, and care. Because human infants,
like other mammalian infants, cannot feed or protect themselves, they are
dependent upon the care and protection of older and wiser adults for survival.
Bowlby argued that, over the course of evolutionary history, infants who were
able to maintain proximity to an attachment figure would be more likely to
survive to a reproductive age.
According to Bowlby, a motivational system, what he called the attachment
behavioral system, was gradually designed by natural selection to regulate
proximity to an attachment figure. The attachment system functions much like
a thermostat that continuously monitors the ambient temperature of a room,
comparing that temperature against a desired state and adjusting behavior (e.
g., activating the furnace) accordingly. In the case of the attachment system,
Bowlby argued that the system continuously monitors the accessibility of the
primary attachment figure. If the child perceives the attachment figure to be
nearby, accessible, and attentive, then the child feels loved, secure, and
confident and, behaviorally, is likely to explore his or her environment, play with
others, and be sociable. If, however, the child perceives the attachment figure
to be inaccessible, the child experiences anxiety and, behaviorally, is likely to
exhibit attachment behaviors ranging from simple visual searching on the low
extreme to active searching, following, and vocal signaling on the other. These
attachment behaviors continue either until the child is able to reestablish a
desirable level of physical or psychological proximity to the attachment figure
or until the child exhausts himself or herself or gives up, as may happen in the
context of a prolonged separation or loss.
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Individual Differences in Infant Attachment

Although Bowlby believed that these basic dynamics captured the way the
attachment system works in most children, he recognized that there are
individual differences in the way children appraise the accessibility of the
attachment figure and how they regulate their attachment behavior in response
to threats. However, it was not until his colleague, Mary Ainsworth, began to
systematically study infantparent separations that a formal understanding of
these individual differences emerged. Ainsworth and her students developed
a technique called the strange situationa laboratory task for studying infant
parent attachment (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). In the strange
situation, 12-month-old infants and their parents are brought to the laboratory
and, over a period of approximately 20 minutes, are systematically separated
from and reunited with one another. In the strange situation, most children
(about 60%) behave in the way implied by Bowlbys normative theory.
Specifically, they become upset when the parent leaves the room, but, when
he or she returns, they actively seek the parent and are easily comforted by him
or her. Children who exhibit this pattern of behavior are often called secure.
Other children (about 20% or less) are ill at ease initially and, upon separation,
become extremely distressed. Importantly, when reunited with their parents,
these children have a difficult time being soothed and often exhibit conflicting
behaviors that suggest they want to be comforted, but that they also want to
punish the parent for leaving. These children are often called anxiousresistant. The third pattern of attachment that Ainsworth and her colleagues
documented is often labeled avoidant. Avoidant children (about 20%) do not
consistently behave as if they are stressed by the separation but, upon reunion,
actively avoid seeking contact with their parent, sometimes turning their
attention to play objects on the laboratory floor.
659
Ainsworths work was important for at least three reasons. First, she
provided one of the first empirical demonstrations of how attachment behavior
is organized in unfamiliar contexts. Second, she provided the first empirical
taxonomy of individual differences in infant attachment patterns. According
to her research, at least three types of children exist: those who are secure in
their relationship with their parents, those who are anxious-resistant, and those
who are anxious-avoidant. Finally, she demonstrated that these individual
differences were correlated with infantparent interactions in the home during
the first year of life. Children who appear secure in the strange situation, for
example, tend to have parents who are responsive to their needs. Children who
appear insecure in the strange situation (i.e., anxious-resistant or avoidant)
often have parents who are insensitive to their needs, or inconsistent or
rejecting in the care they provide.
Antecedents of Attachment Patterns

In the years that have followed Ainsworths ground-breaking research,
researchers have investigated a variety of factors that may help determine
whether children develop secure or insecure relationships with their primary
attachment figures. As mentioned above, one of the key determinants of
attachment patterns is the history of sensitive and responsive interactions
between the caregiver and the child. In short, when the child is uncertain or
stressed, the ability of the caregiver to provide support to the child is critical for
his or her psychological development. It is assumed that such supportive
interactions help the child learn to regulate his or her emotions, give the child
the confidence to explore the environment, and provide the child with a safe
haven during stressful circumstances.
660
Evidence for the role of sensitive caregiving in shaping attachment patterns

comes from longitudinal and experimental studies. For example, Grossmann,
Grossmann, Spangler, Suess, and Unzner (1985) studied parentchild
interactions in the homes of 54 families, up to three times during the first year
of the childs life. At 12 months of age, infants and their mothers participated
in the strange situation. Grossmann and her colleagues found that children
who were classified as secure in the strange situation at 12 months of age were
more likely than children classified as insecure to have mothers who provided
responsive care to their children in the home environment.
Van den Boom (1994) developed an intervention that was designed to
enhance maternal sensitive responsiveness. When the infants were 9 months
of age, the mothers in the intervention group were rated as more responsive
and attentive in their interaction with their infants compared to mothers in the
control group. In addition, their infants were rated as more sociable, selfsoothing, and more likely to explore the environment. At 12 months of age,
children in the intervention group were more likely to be classified as secure
than insecure in the strange situation.
Attachment Patterns and Child Outcomes

Attachment researchers have studied the association between childrens
attachment patterns and their adaptation over time. Researchers have learned,
for example, that children who are classified as secure in the strange situation
are more likely to have high functioning relationships with peers, to be evaluated
favorably by teachers, and to persist with more diligence in challenging tasks.
In contrast, insecure-avoidant children are more likely to be construed as
bullies or to have a difficult time building and maintaining friendships
(Weinfield, Sroufe, Egeland, & Carlson, 2008).
661
Attachment in Adulthood
Although Bowlby was primarily focused on understanding the nature of the
infantcaregiver relationship, he believed that attachment characterized
human experience across the life course. It was not until the mid-1980s,
however, that researchers began to take seriously the possibility that
attachment processes may be relevant to adulthood. Hazan and Shaver (1987)
were two of the first researchers to explore Bowlbys ideas in the context of
romantic relationships. According to Hazan and Shaver, the emotional bond
that develops between adult romantic partners is partly a function of the same
motivational systemthe attachment behavioral systemthat gives rise to the
emotional bond between infants and their caregivers. Hazan and Shaver noted
that in both kinds of relationship, people (a) feel safe and secure when the other
person is present; (b) turn to the other person during times of sickness, distress,
or fear; (c) use the other person as a secure base from which to explore the
world; and (d) speak to one another in a unique language, often called
motherese or baby talk. (See Box X.2.)
On the basis of these parallels, Hazan and Shaver (1987) argued that adult
romantic relationships, such as infantcaregiver relationships, are attachments.
According to Hazan and Shaver, individuals gradually transfer attachmentrelated functions from parents to peers as they develop. Thus, although young
children tend to use their parents as their primary attachment figures, as they
reach adolescence and young adulthood, they come to rely more upon close
friends and/or romantic partners for basic attachment-related functions. Thus,
although a young child may turn to his or her mother for comfort, support, and
guidance when distressed, scared, or ill, young adults may be more likely to
turn to their romantic partners for these purposes under similar situations.
662
Hazan and Shaver (1987) asked a diverse sample of adults to read the three
paragraphs below and indicate which paragraph best characterized the way
they think, feel, and behave in close relationships:
1. I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust
them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous
when anyone gets too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate
than I feel comfortable being.
2. I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending
on them and having them depend on me. I dont worry about being
abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.
3. I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry
that my partner doesnt really love me or wont want to stay with me. I want
to get very close to my partner, and this sometimes scares people away.
Conceptually, these descriptions were designed to represent what Hazan

and Shaver considered to be adult analogues of the kinds of attachment
patterns Ainsworth described in the strange situation (avoidant, secure, and
anxious, respectively). Hazan and Shaver (1987) found that the distribution of
the three patterns was similar to that observed in infancy. In other words, about
60% of adults classified themselves as secure (paragraph B), about 20%
described themselves as avoidant (paragraph A), and about 20% described
themselves as anxious-resistant (paragraph C). Moreover, they found that
people who described themselves as secure, for example, were more likely to
report having had warm and trusting relationships with their parents when they
were growing up. In addition, they were more likely to have positive views of
romantic relationships. Based on these findings, Hazan and Shaver (1987)
663
concluded that the same kinds of individual differences that exist in infant
attachment also exist in adulthood.
Research on Attachment in Adulthood

Attachment theory has inspired a large amount of literature in social,
personality, and clinical psychology. In the sections below, I provide a brief
overview of some of the major research questions and what researchers have
learned about attachment in adulthood.
Who Ends Up with Whom?

When people are asked what kinds of psychological or behavioral qualities they
are seeking in a romantic partner, a large majority of people indicate that they
are seeking someone who is kind, caring, trustworthy, and understandingthe
kinds of attributes that characterize a secure caregiver (Chappell & Davis,
1998). But we know that people do not always end up with others who meet
their ideals. Are secure people more likely to end up with secure partners
and, vice versa, are insecure people more likely to end up with insecure
partners? The majority of the research that has been conducted to date suggests
that the answer is yes. Frazier, Byer, Fischer, Wright, and DeBord (1996), for
example, studied the attachment patterns of more than 83 heterosexual
couples and found that, if the man was relatively secure, the woman was also
likely to be secure.
One important question is whether these findings exist because (a) secure
people are more likely to be attracted to other secure people, (b) secure people
are likely to create security in their partners over time, or (c) some combination
of these possibilities. Existing empirical research strongly supports the first
alternative. For example, when people have the opportunity to interact with
individuals who vary in security in a speed-dating context, they express a greater
664
interest in those who are higher in security than those who are more insecure
(McClure, Lydon, Baccus, & Baldwin, 2010). However, there is also some
evidence that peoples attachment styles mutually shape one another in close
relationships. For example, in a longitudinal study, Hudson, Fraley, Vicary, and
Brumbaugh (2012) found that, if one person in a relationship experienced a
change in security, his or her partner was likely to experience a change in the
same direction.
Relationship Functioning
Research has consistently demonstrated that individuals who are relatively
secure are more likely than insecure individuals to have high functioning
relationshipsrelationships that are more satisfying, more enduring, and less
characterized by conflict. For example, Feeney and Noller (1992) found that
insecure individuals were more likely than secure individuals to experience a
breakup of their relationship. In addition, secure individuals are more likely to
report satisfying relationships (e.g., Collins & Read, 1990) and are more likely
to provide support to their partners when their partners were feeling distressed
(Simpson, Rholes, & Nelligan, 1992).
Do Early Experiences Shape Adult Attachment?

The majority of research on this issue is retrospectivethat is, it relies on adults
reports of what they recall about their childhood experiences. This kind of work
suggests that secure adults are more likely to describe their early childhood
experiences with their parents as being supportive, loving, and kind (Hazan &
Shaver, 1987). A number of longitudinal studies are emerging that demonstrate
prospective associations between early attachment experiences and adult
attachment styles and/or interpersonal functioning in adulthood. For example,
Fraley, Roisman, Booth-LaForce, Owen, and Holland (2013) found in a sample
665
of more than 700 individuals studied from infancy to adulthood that maternal
sensitivity across development prospectively predicted security at age 18.
Simpson, Collins, Tran, and Haydon (2007) found that attachment security,
assessed in infancy in the strange situation, predicted peer competence in
grades 1 to 3, which, in turn, predicted the quality of friendship relationships
at age 16, which, in turn, predicted the expression of positive and negative
emotions in their adult romantic relationships at ages 20 to 23.
It is easy to come away from such findings with the mistaken assumption
that early experiences determine later outcomes. To be clear: Attachment
theorists assume that the relationship between early experiences and
subsequent outcomes is probabilistic, not deterministic. Having supportive and
responsive experiences with caregivers early in life is assumed to set the stage
for positive social development. But that does not mean that attachment
patterns are set in stone. In short, even if an individual has far from optimal
experiences in early life, attachment theory suggests that it is possible for that
individual to develop well-functioning adult relationships through a number of
corrective experiencesincluding relationships with siblings, other family
members, teachers, and close friends. Security is best viewed as a culmination
of a persons attachment history rather than a reflection of his or her early
experiences alone. Those early experiences are considered important not
because they determine a persons fate, but because they provide the
foundation for subsequent experiences.
666
Outside Resources
Survey: Learn more about your attachment patterns via this online survey
http://www.yourpersonality.net/relstructures/
1. What kind of relationship did you have with your parents or primary
caregivers when you were young? Do you think that had any bearing on the
way you related to others (e.g., friends, relationship partners) as you grew
older?
2. There is variation across cultures in the extent to which people value
independence. Do you think this might have implications for the
development of attachment patterns?
3. As parents age, it is not uncommon for them to have to depend on their
adult children. Do you think that peoples history of experiences in their
relationships with their parents might shape peoples willingness to provide
care for their aging parents? In other words, are secure adults more likely
to provide responsive care to their aging parents?
4. Some people, despite reporting insecure relationships with their parents,
report secure, well-functioning relationships with their spouses. What kinds
of experiences do you think might enable someone to develop a secure
relationship with their partners despite having an insecure relationship with
other central figures in their lives?
5. Most attachment research on adults focuses on attachment to peers (e.g.,
romantic partners). What other kinds of things may serve as attachment
figures? Do you think siblings, pets, or gods can serve as attachment figures?
Vocabulary
Attachment behavioral system
A motivational system selected over the course of evolution to maintain
proximity between a young child and his or her primary attachment figure.
Attachment behaviors
Behaviors and signals that attract the attention of a primary attachment figure
and function to prevent separation from that individual or to reestablish
proximity to that individual (e.g., crying, clinging).
Attachment figure
Someone who functions as the primary safe haven and secure base for an
individual. In childhood, an individuals attachment figure is often a parent. In
adulthood, an individuals attachment figure is often a romantic partner.
Attachment patterns
(also called attachment styles or attachment orientations) Individual
differences in how securely (vs. insecurely) people think, feel, and behave in
attachment relationships.
Strange situation
A laboratory task that involves briefly separating and reuniting infants and their
primary caregivers as a way of studying individual differences in attachment
behavior.
Reference List
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of
attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York, NY: Basic
Books
Chappell, K. D., & Davis, K. E. (1998). Attachment, partner choice, and perception
of romantic partners: An experimental test of the attachment-security
hypothesis. Personal Relationships, 5, 327342.
Collins, N., & Read, S. (1990). Adult attachment, working models and relationship
quality in dating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58,
644-663.
Feeney, J. A., & Noller, P. (1992). Attachment style and romantic love: Relationship
dissolution. Australian Journal of Psychology, 44, 6974.
Fraley, R. C., Roisman, G. I., Booth-LaForce, C., Owen, M. T., & Holland, A. S.
(2013). Interpersonal and genetic origins of adult attachment styles: A
longitudinal study from infancy to early adulthood. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 104, 8817-838.
Frazier, P. A, Byer, A. L., Fischer, A. R., Wright, D. M., & DeBord, K. A. (1996). Adult
attachment style and partner choice: Correlational and experimental
findings. Personal Relationships, 3, 117136.
Grossmann, K., Grossmann, K. E., Spangler, G., Suess, G., & Unzner, L. (1985).
Maternal sensitivity and newborns orientation responses as related to
quality of attachment in northern Germany. Monographs of the Society for

Research in Child Development, 50(1-2), 233256.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. R. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment
process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524.
Hudson, N. W., Fraley, R. C., Vicary, A. M., & Brumbaugh, C. C. (2012). Attachment
coregulation: A longitudinal investigation of the coordination in romantic
partners attachment styles. Manuscript under review.
McClure, M. J., Lydon., J. E., Baccus, J., & Baldwin, M. W. (2010). A signal detection
analysis of the anxiously attached at speed-dating: Being unpopular is only
the first part of the problem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36,
10241036.
Simpson, J. A., Collins, W. A., Tran, S., & Haydon, K. C. (2007). Attachment and
the experience and expression of emotions in adult romantic relationships:
A developmental perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
92, 355367.
Simpson, J. A., Rholes, W. S., & Nelligan, J. S. (1992). Support seeking and support
giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation. Journal of
Weinfield, N. S., Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E. A. (2008). Individual
differences in infant-caregiver attachment: Conceptual and empirical
aspects of security. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of
attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 78101).
New York, NY: Guilford Press.
van den Boom, D. C. (1994). The influence of temperament and mothering on

attachment and exploration: An experimental manipulation of sensitive
responsiveness among lower-class mothers with irritable infants. Child
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Attachment Through the Life Course by R. Chris
Fraley is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Emerging Adulthood
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Clark University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Emerging adulthood has been proposed as a new life stage between
adolescence and young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25. Five
features make emerging adulthood distinctive: identity explorations, instability,
self-focus, feeling in-between adolescence and adulthood, and a sense of broad
possibilities for the future. Emerging adulthood is found mainly in developed
countries, where most young people obtain tertiary education and median ages
of entering marriage and parenthood are around 30. There are variations in
emerging adulthood within developed countries. It lasts longest in Europe, and
in Asian developed countries, the self-focused freedom of emerging adulthood
is balanced by obligations to parents and by conservative views of sexuality. In
developing countries, although today emerging adulthood exists only among
the middle-class elite, it can be expected to grow in the 21st century as these
countries become more affluent.
Learning Objectives
Explain where, when, and why a new life stage of emerging adulthood
appeared over the past half-century.
Identify the five features that distinguish emerging adulthood from other
life stages.
Describe the variations in emerging adulthood in countries around the

world.
Introduction
Think for a moment about the lives of your grandparents and greatgrandparents when they were in their twenties. How do their lives at that age
compare to your life? If they were like most other people of their time, their
lives were quite different than yours. What happened to change the twenties
so much between their time and our own? And how should we understand the
1829 age period today?
The theory of emerging adulthood proposes that a new life stage has arisen
between adolescence and young adulthood over the past half-century in
industrialized countries. Fifty years ago, most young people in these countries
had entered stable adult roles in love and work by their late teens or early
twenties. Relatively few people pursued education or training beyond
secondary school, and, consequently, most young men were full-time workers
by the end of their teens. Relatively few women worked in occupations outside
the home, and the median marriage age for women in the United States and
in most other industrialized countries in 1960 was around 20 (Arnett & Taber,
1994; Douglass, 2005). The median marriage age for men was around 22, and
married couples usually had their first child about one year after their wedding
day. All told, for most young people half a century ago, their teenage
adolescence led quickly and directly to stable adult roles in love and work by
their late teens or early twenties. These roles would form the structure of their
adult lives for decades to come.
Now all that has changed. A higher proportion of young people than ever
beforeabout 70% in the United Statespursue education and training
beyond secondary school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). The
early twenties are not a time of entering stable adult work but a time of immense
job instability: In the United States, the average number of job changes from
ages 20 to 29 is seven. The median age of entering marriage in the United States
is now 27 for women and 29 for men (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2011).
nobaproject.com - Emerging Adulthood
677
Consequently, a new stage of the life span, emerging adulthood, has been
created, lasting from the late teens through the mid-twenties, roughly ages 18
to 25.
The Five Features of Emerging Adulthood

Five characteristics distinguish emerging adulthood from other life stages
(Arnett, 2004). Emerging adulthood is:
1. the age of identity explorations;
2. the age of instability;
3. the self-focused age;
4. the age of feeling in-between; and
5. the age of possibilities.
Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of emerging adulthood is that it

is the age of identity explorations. That is, it is an age when people explore
various possibilities in love and work as they move toward making enduring
choices. Through trying out these different possibilities, they develop a more
definite identity, including an understanding of who they are, what their
capabilities and limitations are, what their beliefs and values are, and how they
fit into the society around them. Erik Erikson (1950), who was the first to develop
the idea of identity, proposed that it is mainly an issue in adolescence; but that
was more than 50 years ago, and today it is mainly in emerging adulthood that
identity explorations take place (Ct, 2006).
678
The explorations of emerging adulthood also make it the age of instability.

As emerging adults explore different possibilities in love and work, their lives
are often unstable. A good illustration of this instability is their frequent moves
from one residence to another. Rates of residential change in American society
are much higher at ages 18 to 29 than at any other period of life (Arnett, 2004).
This reflects the explorations going on in emerging adults lives. Some move
out of their parents household for the first time in their late teens to attend a
residential college, whereas others move out simply to be independent
(Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1999). They may move again when they drop
out of college or when they graduate. They may move to cohabit with a romantic
partner, and then move out when the relationship ends. Some move to another
part of the country or the world to study or work. For nearly half of American
emerging adults, residential change includes moving back in with their parents
at least once (Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1999). In some countries, such as
in southern Europe, emerging adults remain in their parents home rather than
move out; nevertheless, they may still experience instability in education, work,
and love relationships (Douglass, 2005, 2007).
Emerging adulthood is also a self-focused age. Most American emerging
adults move out of their parents home at age 18 or 19 and do not marry or
have their first child until at least their late twenties (Arnett, 2004). Even in
countries where emerging adults remain in their parents home through their
early twenties, as in southern Europe and in Asian countries such as Japan, they
establish a more independent lifestyle than they had as adolescents
(Rosenberger, 2007). Emerging adulthood is a time between adolescents
reliance on parents and adults long-term commitments in love and work, and
during these years, emerging adults focus on themselves as they develop the
knowledge, skills, and self-understanding they will need for adult life. In the
course of emerging adulthood, they learn to make independent decisions about
everything from what to have for dinner to whether or not to go to get married.
679
Another distinctive feature of emerging adulthood is that it is an age of

feeling in-between, not adolescent but not fully adult, either. When asked, Do
you feel that you have reached adulthood? the majority of emerging adults
respond neither yes nor no but with the ambiguous in some ways yes, in some
ways no (Arnett, 2003, 2012). It is only when people reach their late twenties
and early thirties that a clear majority feels adult. Most emerging adults have
the subjective feeling of being in a transitional period of life, on the way to
adulthood but not there yet. This in-between feeling in emerging adulthood
has been found in a wide range of countries, including Argentina (Facio &
Micocci, 2003), Austria (Sirsch, Dreher, Mayr, & Willinger, 2009), Israel
(Mayseless & Scharf, 2003), the Czech Republic (Macek, Bejek, & Vankov,
2007), and China (Nelson & Chen, 2007).
Finally, emerging adulthood is the age of possibilities, when many different
futures remain possible, and when little about a persons direction in life has
been decided for certain. It tends to be an age of high hopes and great
expectations, in part because few of their dreams have been tested in the fires
of real life. In one national survey of 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States,
nearly all89%agreed with the statement, I am confident that one day I will
get to where I want to be in life (Arnett & Schwab, 2012). This optimism in
emerging adulthood has been found in other countries as well (Nelson & Chen,
2007).
International Variations
The five features proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood originally were
based on research involving about 300 Americans between ages 18 and 29 from
various ethnic groups, social classes, and geographical regions (Arnett, 2004).
To what extent does the theory of emerging adulthood apply internationally?
680
The answer to this question depends greatly on what part of the world is
considered. Demographers make a useful distinction between the developing
countries that comprise the majority of the worlds population and the
economically developed countries that are part of the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including the United States,
Canada, western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The
current population of OECD countries (also called developed countries) is 1.2
billion, about 18% of the total world population (UNDP, 2011). The rest of the
human population resides in developing countries, which have much lower
median incomes; much lower median educational attainment; and much higher
incidence of illness, disease, and early death. Let us consider emerging
adulthood in OECD countries first, then in developing countries.
EA in OECD Countries: The Advantages of Affluence

The same demographic changes as described above for the United States have
taken place in other OECD countries as well. This is true of participation in
postsecondary education as well as median ages for entering marriage and
parenthood (UNdata, 2010). However, there is also substantial variability in how
emerging adulthood is experienced across OECD countries. Europe is the region
where emerging adulthood is longest and most leisurely. The median ages for
entering marriage and parenthood are near 30 in most European countries
(Douglass, 2007). Europe today is the location of the most affluent, generous,
and egalitarian societies in the worldin fact, in human history (Arnett, 2007).
Governments pay for tertiary education, assist young people in finding jobs,
and provide generous unemployment benefits for those who cannot find work.
In northern Europe, many governments also provide housing support.
Emerging adults in European societies make the most of these advantages,
gradually making their way to adulthood during their twenties while enjoying
travel and leisure with friends.
681
The lives of Asian emerging adults in developed countries such as Japan and
South Korea are in some ways similar to the lives of emerging adults in Europe
and in some ways strikingly different. Like European emerging adults, Asian
emerging adults tend to enter marriage and parenthood around age 30 (Arnett,
2011). Like European emerging adults, Asian emerging adults in Japan and South
Korea enjoy the benefits of living in affluent societies with generous social
welfare systems that provide support for them in making the transition to
adulthoodfor
example,
free
university
education
and
substantial
unemployment benefits.
However, in other ways, the experience of emerging adulthood in Asian
OECD countries is markedly different than in Europe. Europe has a long history
of individualism, and todays emerging adults carry that legacy with them in
their focus on self-development and leisure during emerging adulthood. In
contrast, Asian cultures have a shared cultural history emphasizing collectivism
and family obligations. Although Asian cultures have become more
individualistic in recent decades as a consequence of globalization, the legacy
of collectivism persists in the lives of emerging adults. They pursue identity
explorations and self-development during emerging adulthood, like their
American and European counterparts, but within narrower boundaries set by
their sense of obligations to others, especially their parents (Phinney &
Baldelomar, 2011). For example, in their views of the most important criteria
for becoming an adult, emerging adults in the United States and Europe
consistently rank financial independence among the most important markers
of adulthood. In contrast, emerging adults with an Asian cultural background
especially emphasize becoming capable of supporting parents financially as
among the most important criteria (Arnett, 2003; Nelson, Badger, & Wu, 2004).
This sense of family obligation may curtail their identity explorations in
emerging adulthood to some extent, as they pay more heed to their parents
wishes about what they should study, what job they should take, and where
they should live than emerging adults do in the West (Rosenberger, 2007).
682
Another notable contrast between Western and Asian emerging adults is in

their sexuality. In the West, premarital sex is normative by the late teens, more
than a decade before most people enter marriage. In the United States and
Canada, and in northern and eastern Europe, cohabitation is also normative;
most people have at least one cohabiting partnership before marriage. In
southern Europe, cohabiting is still taboo, but premarital sex is tolerated in
emerging adulthood. In contrast, both premarital sex and cohabitation remain
rare and forbidden throughout Asia. Even dating is discouraged until the late
twenties, when it would be a prelude to a serious relationship leading to
marriage. In cross-cultural comparisons, about three fourths of emerging adults
in the United States and Europe report having had premarital sexual relations
by age 20, versus less than one fifth in Japan and South Korea (Hatfield and
Rapson, 2006).
EA in Developing Countries: Low But Rising

Emerging adulthood is well established as a normative life stage in the
developed countries described thus far, but it is still growing in developing
countries. Demographically, in developing countries as in OECD countries, the
median ages for entering marriage and parenthood have been rising in recent
decades, and an increasing proportion of young people have obtained postsecondary education. Nevertheless, currently it is only a minority of young
people in developing countries who experience anything resembling emerging
adulthood. The majority of the population still marries around age 20 and has
long finished education by the late teens. As you can see in Figure 1, rates of
enrollment in tertiary education are much lower in developing countries
(represented by the five countries on the right) than in OECD countries
(represented by the five countries on the left).
683
Figure 1: Gross tertiary enrollment, selected countries, 2007. Source: UNdata (2010). Note.
Gross enrollment ratio is the total enrollment in a specific level of education, regardless of
age, expressed as a percentage of the eligible official school-age population corresponding
to the same level of education in a given school year. For the tertiary level, the population
used is that of the five-year age group following the end of secondary schooling.
For young people in developing countries, emerging adulthood exists only

for the wealthier segment of society, mainly the urban middle class, whereas
the rural and urban poorthe majority of the populationhave no emerging
adulthood and may even have no adolescence because they enter adult-like
work at an early age and also begin marriage and parenthood relatively early.
What Saraswathi and Larson (2002) observed about adolescence applies to
emerging adulthood as well: In many ways, the lives of middle-class youth in
India, South East Asia, and Europe have more in common with each other than
684
they do with those of poor youth in their own countries. However, as

globalization proceeds, and economic development along with it, the
proportion of young people who experience emerging adulthood will increase
as the middle class expands. By the end of the 21st century, emerging adulthood
is likely to be normative worldwide.
Conclusion
The new life stage of emerging adulthood has spread rapidly in the past halfcentury and is continuing to spread. Now that the transition to adulthood is
later than in the past, is this change positive or negative for emerging adults
and their societies? Certainly there are some negatives. It means that young
people are dependent on their parents for longer than in the past, and they
take longer to become full contributing members of their societies. A substantial
proportion of them have trouble sorting through the opportunities available to
them and struggle with anxiety and depression, even though most are
optimistic. However, there are advantages to having this new life stage as well.
By waiting until at least their late twenties to take on the full range of adult
responsibilities, emerging adults are able to focus on obtaining enough
education and training to prepare themselves for the demands of todays
information- and technology-based economy. Also, it seems likely that if young
people make crucial decisions about love and work in their late twenties or early
thirties rather than their late teens and early twenties, their judgment will be
more mature and they will have a better chance of making choices that will
work out well for them in the long run.
What can societies do to enhance the likelihood that emerging adults will
make a successful transition to adulthood? One important step would be to
expand the opportunities for obtaining tertiary education. The tertiary
education systems of OECD countries were constructed at a time when the
economy was much different, and they have not expanded at the rate needed
685
to serve all the emerging adults who need such education. Furthermore, in
some countries, such as the United States, the cost of tertiary education has
risen steeply and is often unaffordable to many young people. In developing
countries, tertiary education systems are even smaller and less able to
accommodate their emerging adults. Across the world, societies would be wise
to strive to make it possible for every emerging adult to receive tertiary
education, free of charge. There could be no better investment for preparing
young people for the economy of the future.
686
Outside Resources
Web: Jeffrey Jensen Arnett website
http://www.jeffreyarnett.com
Web: Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood
http://www.ssea.org
1. What kind of variations in emerging adulthood would you predict within
your country? Would there be social class differences? Gender differences?
Ethnic differences?
2. Looking at Figure 1, what contrasts do you observe between OECD countries
and developing countries? Between males and females? What economic
and cultural differences might explain these contrasts?
3. Do you agree or disagree with the authors prediction that emerging
adulthood is likely to become a life stage experienced worldwide in the
decades to come? What factors are likely to determine whether this turns
out to be true?
Vocabulary
Collectivism
Belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has
toward others.
Developed countries
The economically advanced countries of the world, in which most of the worlds
wealth is concentrated.
Developing countries
The less economically advanced countries that comprise the majority of the
worlds population. Most are currently developing at a rapid rate.
Emerging adulthood
A new life stage extending from approximately ages 18 to 25, during which the
foundation of an adult life is gradually constructed in love and work. Primary
features include identity explorations, instability, focus on self-development,
feeling incompletely adult, and a broad sense of possibilities.
Individualism
Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high
values.
OECD countries
Members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,
comprised of the worlds wealthiest countries.
Tertiary education
Education or training beyond secondary school, usually taking place in a college,
university, or vocational training program.
Reference List
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& N. Crouter (Eds.), Early adulthood in a family context (pp. 231244). New
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Emerging Adulthood by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

The Developing Parent

Marissa L. Diener
University of Utah
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter focuses on parenthood as a developmental task of adulthood.
Parents take on new roles as their children develop, transforming their identity
as a parent as the developmental demands of their children change. The main
influences on parenting, parent characteristics, child characteristics, and
contextual factors, are described.
Learning Objectives
Identify and describe the stages of parenthood.
Identify and describe the influences on parenting.
The Development of Parents

Think back to an emotional event you experienced as a child. How did your
parents react to you? Did your parents get frustrated or criticize you, or did they
act patiently and provide support and guidance? Did your parents provide lots
of rules for you or let you make decisions on your own? Why do you think your
parents behaved the way they did?
Psychologists have attempted to answer these questions about the
influences on parents and understand why parents behave the way they do.
Because parents are critical to a childs development, a great deal of research
has been focused on the impact that parents have on children. Less is known,
however, about the development of parents themselves and the impact of
children on parents. Nonetheless, parenting is a major role in an adults life.
Parenthood is often considered a normative developmental task of adulthood.
Cross-cultural studies show that adolescents around the world plan to have
children. In fact, most men and women in the United States will become parents
by the age of 40 years (Martinez, Daniels, & Chandra, 2012). People have children
for many reasons, including emotional reasons (e.g., the emotional bond with
children and the gratification the parentchild relationship brings), economic
and utilitarian reasons (e.g., children provide help in the family and support in
old age), and social-normative reasons (e.g., adults are expected to have
children; children provide status) (Nauck, 2007).
Parenthood is undergoing changes in the United States and elsewhere in
the world. Children are less likely to be living with both parents, and women in
the United States have fewer children than they did previously. The average
fertility rate of women in the United States was about seven children in the early
1900s and has remained relatively stable at 2.1 since the 1970s (Hamilton,
Martin, & Ventura, 2011; Martinez, Daniels, & Chandra, 2012). Not only are
parents having fewer children, the context of parenthood has also changed.
Parenting outside of marriage has increased dramatically among most
nobaproject.com - The Developing Parent
699
socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups, although college-educated women

are substantially more likely to be married at the birth of a child than are mothers
with less education (Dye, 2010). Parenting is occurring outside of marriage for
many reasons, both economic and social. People are having children at older
ages, too. Despite the fact that young people are more often delaying
childbearing, most 18- to 29-year-olds want to have children and say that being
a good parent is one of the most important things in life (Wang & Taylor, 2011).
Table 1. Demographic Changes in Parenthood in the United States

1. Ventura & Bachrach, 1999
2. Martinez, Daniels, & Chandra, 2012
3. Hamilton, Martin, & Ventura, 2012
4. Cohn, Passel, Wang, & Livingston, 2011
5. U.S. Decennial Census (1890-2000).
6. Wetzel, J. R. (1990).
Galinsky (1987) was one of the first to emphasize the development of parents
themselves, how they respond to their childrens development, and how they
grow as parents. Parenthood is an experience that transforms ones identity as
parents take on new roles. Childrens growth and development force parents
to change their roles. They must develop new skills and abilities in response to
childrens development. Galinsky identified six stages of parenthood that focus
on different tasks and goals (see Table 2).
700
Table 2. Galinskys Stages of Parenthood
1. The Image-Making Stage

As prospective parents think about and form images about their roles as parents
and what parenthood will bring, and prepare for the changes an infant will
bring, they enter the image-making stage. Future parents develop their ideas
about what it will be like to be a parent and the type of parent they want to be.
Individuals may evaluate their relationships with their own parents as a model
of their roles as parents.
2. The Nurturing Stage

The second stage, the nurturing stage, occurs at the birth of the baby. A parents
main goal during this stage is to develop an attachment relationship to their
baby. Parents must adapt their romantic relationships, their relationships with
their other children, and with their own parents to include the new infant. Some
parents feel attached to the baby immediately, but for other parents, this occurs
more gradually. Parents may have imagined their infant in specific ways, but
they now have to reconcile those images with their actual baby. In incorporating
701
their relationship with their child into their other relationships, parents often
have to reshape their conceptions of themselves and their identity. Parenting
responsibilities are the most demanding during infancy because infants are
completely dependent on caregiving.
3. The Authority Stage

The authority stage occurs when children are 2 years old until about 4 or 5
years old. In this stage, parents make decisions about how much authority to
exert over their childrens behavior. Parents must establish rules to guide their
childs behavior and development. They have to decide how strictly they should
enforce rules and what to do when rules are broken.
4. The Interpretive Stage

The interpretive stage occurs when children enter school (preschool or
kindergarten) to the beginning of adolescence. Parents interpret their childrens
experiences as children are increasingly exposed to the world outside the family.
Parents answer their childrens questions, provide explanations, and determine
what behaviors and values to teach. They decide what experiences to provide
their children, in terms of schooling, neighborhood, and extracurricular
activities. By this time, parents have experience in the parenting role and often
reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as parents, review their images of
parenthood, and determine how realistic they have been. Parents have to
negotiate how involved to be with their children, when to step in, and when to
encourage children to make choices independently.
702
5. The Interdependent Stage

Parents of teenagers are in the interdependent stage. They must redefine their
authority and renegotiate their relationship with their adolescent as the
children increasingly make decisions independent of parental control and
authority. On the other hand, parents do not permit their adolescent children
to have complete autonomy over their decision-making and behavior, and thus
adolescents and parents must adapt their relationship to allow for greater
negotiation and discussion about rules and limits.
6. The Departure Stage

During the departure stage of parenting, parents evaluate the entire experience
of parenting. They prepare for their childs departure, redefine their identity as
the parent of an adult child, and assess their parenting accomplishments and
failures. This stage forms a transition to a new era in parents lives. This stage
usually spans a long time period from when the oldest child moves away (and
often returns) until the youngest child leaves. The parenting role must be
redefined as a less central role in a parents identity.
Despite the interest in the development of parents among lay people and
helping professionals, little research has examined developmental changes in
parents experience and behaviors over time. Thus, it is not clear whether these
theoretical stages are generalizable to parents of different races, ages, and
religions, nor do we have empirical data on the factors that influence individual
differences in these stages. On a practical note, how-to books and websites
geared toward parental development should be evaluated with caution, as not
all advice provided is supported by research.
703
Influences on Parenting
Parenting is a complex process in which parents and children influence one
another. There are many reasons that parents behave the way do. The multiple
influences on parenting are still being explored. Proposed influences on
parental behavior include 1) parent characteristics, 2) child characteristics, and
3) contextual and sociocultural characteristics (Belsky, 1984; Demick, 1999) (see
Figure 1).
Parent Characteristics
Parents bring unique traits and qualities to the parenting relationship that affect
their decisions as parents. These characteristics include the age of the parent,
gender, beliefs, personality, developmental history, knowledge about parenting
and child development, and mental and physical health. Parents personalities
affect parenting behaviors. Mothers and fathers who are more agreeable,
conscientious, and outgoing are warmer and provide more structure to their
children. Parents who are more agreeable, less anxious, and less negative also
support their childrens autonomy more than parents who are anxious and less
agreeable (Prinzie, Stams, Dekovic, Reijntjes, & Belsky, 2009). Parents who have
these personality traits appear to be better able to respond to their children
positively and provide a more consistent, structured environment for their
children.
Parents developmental histories, or their experiences as children, also affect
their parenting strategies. Parents may learn parenting practices from their own
parents. Fathers whose own parents provided monitoring, consistent and ageappropriate discipline, and warmth were more likely to provide this constructive
parenting to their own children (Kerr, Capaldi, Pears, & Owen, 2009). Patterns
of negative parenting and ineffective discipline also appear from one generation
to the next. However, parents who are dissatisfied with their own parents
704
approach may be more likely to change their parenting methods with their own
children.
Child Characteristics
Parenting is bidirectional. Not only do parents affect their children, children
influence their parents. Child characteristics, such as gender, birth order,
temperament, and health status, affect parenting behaviors and roles. For
example, an infant with an easy temperament may enable parents to feel more
effective, as they are easily able to soothe the child and elicit smiling and cooing.
On the other hand, a cranky or fussy infant elicits fewer positive reactions from
his or her parents and may result in parents feeling less effective in the parenting
role (Eisenberg et al., 2008). Over time, parents of more difficult children may
become more punitive and less patient with their children (Clark, Kochanska,
& Ready, 2000; Eisenberg et al., 1999; Kiff, Lengua, & Zalewski, 2011). Parents
who have a fussy, difficult child are less satisfied with their marriages and have
greater challenges in balancing work and family roles (Hyde, Else-Quest, &
Goldsmith, 2004). Thus, child temperament is one of the child characteristics
that influences how parents behave with their children.
Another child characteristic is the gender of the child. Parents respond
differently to boys and girls. Parents often assign different household chores
to their sons and daughters. Girls are more often responsible for caring for
younger siblings and household chores, whereas boys are more likely to be
asked to perform chores outside the home, such as mowing the lawn (Grusec,
Goodnow, & Cohen, 1996). Parents also talk differently with their sons and
daughters, providing more scientific explanations to their sons and using more
emotion words with their daughters (Crowley, Callanan, Tenenbaum, & Allen,
2001).
705
Contextual Factors and Sociocultural Characteristics

The parentchild relationship does not occur in isolation. Sociocultural
characteristics, including economic hardship, religion, politics, neighborhoods,
schools, and social support, also influence parenting. Parents who experience
economic hardship are more easily frustrated, depressed, and sad, and these
emotional characteristics affect their parenting skills (Conger & Conger, 2002).
Culture also influences parenting behaviors in fundamental ways. Although
promoting the development of skills necessary to function effectively in ones
community is a universal goal of parenting, the specific skills necessary vary
widely from culture to culture. Thus, parents have different goals for their
children that partially depend on their culture (Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2008).
Parents vary in how much they emphasize goals for independence and
individual achievements, and goals involving maintaining harmonious
relationships and being embedded in a strong network of social relationships.
Other important contextual characteristics, such as the neighborhood, school,
and social networks, also affect parenting, even though these settings dont
always include both the child and the parent (Brofenbrenner, 1989). For
example, Latina mothers who perceived their neighborhood as more
dangerous showed less warmth with their children, perhaps because of the
greater stress associated with living a threatening environment (Gonzales et
al., 2011). Many contextual factors influence parenting.
706
Figure 1. Influences on Parenting
Conclusion
Many factors influence parenting decisions and behaviors. These factors
include characteristics of the parent, such as gender and personality, as well as
characteristics of the child, such as age. The context is also important. The
interaction among all these factors creates many different patterns of parenting
behavior. Furthermore, parenting influences not just a childs development, but
also the development of the parent. As parents are faced with new challenges,
they change their parenting strategies and construct new aspects of their
identity. The goals and tasks of parents change over time as their children
develop.
707
Outside Resources
Web: American Psychological Association- Information and Resources on
Parenting
http://www.apa.org/topics/parenting/index.aspx
1. Reflect on the way you were raised. Consider the parenting behaviors (e.g.,
rules, discipline strategies, warmth, and support) used in your household
when you were a child. Why do you think your parents behaved this way?
How do these factors fit with the influences on parenting described here?
Provide specific examples of multiple influences on parenting.
2. Think about different parents and grandparents you know. Do the
challenges they face as parents differ based on the age of their children?
Do your observations fit with Galinskys stages of parenting?
3. What type of parent do you envision yourself becoming? If you are a parent,
how do you parent your child/children? How do you think this is similar to
or different than the way you were raised? What influences exist in your life
that will make you parent differently from your own parents?
Vocabulary
Authority stage
Stage from approximately 2 years to age 4 or 5 when parents create rules and
figure out how to effectively guide their childrens behavior.
Bidirectional
The idea that parents influence their children, but their children also influence
the parents; the direction of influence goes both ways, from parent to child,
and from child to parent.
Departure stage
Stage at which parents prepare for a child to depart and evaluate their successes
and failures as parents.
Image-making stage
Stage during pregnancy when parents consider what it means to be a parent
and plan for changes to accommodate a child.
Interdependent stage
Stage during teenage years when parents renegotiate their relationship with
their adolescent children to allow for shared power in decision-making.
Interpretive stage
Stage from age 4or 5 to the start of adolescence when parents help their children
interpret their experiences with the social world beyond the family.
Nurturing stage
Stage from birth to around 18-24 months in which parents develop an
attachment relationship with child and adapt to the new baby.
Temperament
A childs innate personality; biologically based personality, including qualities
such as activity level, emotional reactivity, sociability, mood, and soothability.
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of Child Development, Vol. 6 (pp. 187251). Geenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Clark, L. A., Kochanska, G., & Ready, R. (2000). Mothers personality and its
interaction with child temperament as predictors of parenting behavior.
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and behavior problems predict their employed mothers work functioning.
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15-44 years in the United States: National Survey of Family Growth,
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Developing Parent by Marissa L. Diener is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Aging
Tara Queen & Jacqui Smith
University of Michigan
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Traditionally, research on aging described only the lives of people over age 65
and the very old. Contemporary theories and research recognizes that
biogenetic and psychological processes of aging are complex and lifelong.
Functioning in each period of life is influenced by what happened earlier and,
in turn, affects subsequent change. We all age in specific social and historical
contexts. Together, these multiple influences on aging make it difficult to define
when middle-age or old age begins. This chapter describes central concepts
and research about adult development and aging. We consider contemporary
questions about cognitive aging and changes in personality, self-related beliefs,
social relationships, and subjective well-being. These four aspects of
psychosocial aging are related to health and longevity.
Learning Objectives
Explain research approaches to studying aging.
Describe cognitive, psychosocial, and physical changes that occur with age.
Provide examples of how age-related changes in these domains are

observed in the context of everyday life.
Introduction
We are currently living in an aging society (Rowe, 2009). Indeed, by 2030 when
the last of the Baby Boomers reach age 65, the U.S. older population will be
double that of 2010. Furthermore, because of increases in average life
expectancy, each new generation can expect to live longer than their parents
generation and certainly longer than their grandparents generation. As a
consequence, it is time for individuals of all ages to rethink their personal life
plans and consider prospects for a long life. When is the best time to start a
family? Will the education gained up to age 20 be sufficient to cope with future
technological advances and marketplace needs? What is the right balance
between work, family, and leisure throughout life? What's the best age to retire?
How can I age successfully and enjoy life to the fullest when I'm 80 or 90? In
this chapter we will discuss several different domains of psychological research
on aging that will help answer these important questions.
Overview: Life Span and Life Course Perspectives on

Aging
Just as young adults differ from one another, older adults are also not all the
same. In each decade of adulthood, we observe substantial heterogeneity in
cognitive functioning, personality, social relationships, lifestyle, beliefs, and
satisfaction with life. This heterogeneity reflects differences in rates of
biogenetic and psychological aging and the sociocultural contexts and history
of people's lives (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Fingerman, Berg, Smith, & Antonucci,
2011). Theories of aging describe how these multiple factors interact and
change over time. They describe why functioning differs on average between
young, middle-aged, young-old, and very old adults and why there is
heterogeneity within these age groups. Life course theories, for example,
nobaproject.com - Aging
720
highlight the effects of social expectations and the normative timing of life
events and social roles (e.g., becoming a parent, retirement). They also consider
the lifelong cumulative effects of membership in specific cohorts (generations)
and sociocultural subgroups (e.g., race, gender, socioeconomic status) and
exposure to historical events (e.g., war, revolution, natural disasters; Elder,
Johnson, & Crosnoe, 2003; Settersten, 2005). Life span theories complement
the life-course perspective with a greater focus on processes within the
individual (e.g., the aging brain). This approach emphasizes the patterning of
lifelong intra- and inter-individual differences in the shape (gain, maintenance,
loss), level, and rate of change (Baltes, 1987, 1997). Both life course and life
span researchers generally rely on longitudinal studies to examine hypotheses
about different patterns of aging associated with the effects of biogenetic, life
history, social, and personal factors. Cross-sectional studies provide
information about age-group differences, but these are confounded with
cohort, time of study, and historical effects.
Cognitive Aging
Researchers have identified areas of both losses and gains in cognition in older
age. Cognitive ability and intelligence are often measured using standardized
tests and validated measures. The psychometric approach has identified two
categories of intelligence that show different rates of change across the life
span (Schaie & Willis, 1996). Fluid intelligence refers to information processing
abilities, such as logical reasoning, remembering lists, spatial ability, and
reaction time. Crystallized intelligence encompasses abilities that draw upon
experience and knowledge. Measures of crystallized intelligence include
vocabulary tests, solving number problems, and understanding texts.
721
With age, systematic declines are observed on cognitive tasks requiring selfinitiated, effortful processing, without the aid of supportive memory cues (Park,
2000). Older adults tend to perform poorer than young adults on memory tasks
that involve recall of information, where individuals must retrieve information
they learned previously without the help of a list of possible choices. For
example, older adults may have more difficulty recalling facts such as names
or contextual details about where or when something happened (Craik, 2000).
What might explain these deficits as we age? As we age, working memory, or
our ability to simultaneously store and use information, becomes less efficient
(Craik & Bialystok, 2006). The ability to process information quickly also
decreases with age. This slowing of processing speed may explain age
differences on many different cognitive tasks (Salthouse, 2004). Some
researchers have argued that inhibitory functioning, or the ability to focus on
certain information while suppressing attention to less pertinent information,
declines with age and may explain age differences in performance on cognitive
tasks (Hasher & Zacks, 1988). Finally, it is well established that our hearing and
vision decline as we age. Longitudinal research has proposed that deficits in
sensory functioning explain age differences in a variety of cognitive abilities
(Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997).
Fewer age differences are observed when memory cues are available, such
as for recognition memory tasks, or when individuals can draw upon acquired
knowledge or experience. For example, older adults often perform as well if
not better than young adults on tests of word knowledge or vocabulary. With
age often comes expertise, and research has pointed to areas where aging
experts perform as well or better than younger individuals. For example, older
typists were found to compensate for age-related declines in speed by looking
farther ahead at printed text (Salthouse, 1984). Compared to younger players,
older chess experts are able to focus on a smaller set of possible moves, leading
to greater cognitive efficiency (Charness, 1981). Accrued knowledge of everyday
tasks, such as grocery prices, can help older adults to make better decisions
722
than young adults (Tentori, Osheron, Hasher, & May, 2001).

How do changes or maintenance of cognitive ability affect older adults
everyday lives? Researchers have studied cognition in the context of several
different everyday activities. One example is driving. Although older adults often
have more years of driving experience, cognitive declines related to reaction
time or attentional processes may pose limitations under certain circumstances
(Park & Gutchess, 2000). Research on interpersonal problem solving suggested
that older adults use more effective strategies than younger adults to navigate
through social and emotional problems (Blanchard-Fields, 2007). In the context
of work, researchers rarely find that older individuals perform poorer on the
job (Park & Gutchess, 2000). Similar to everyday problem solving, older workers
may develop more efficient strategies and rely on expertise to compensate for
cognitive decline.
Personality and Self-Related Processes

Research on adult personality examines normative age-related increases and
decreases in the expression of the so-called "Big Five" traitsextraversion,
neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to new
experience. Does personality change throughout adulthood? Previously the
answer was no, but contemporary research shows that although some peoples
personalities are relatively stable over time, others are not (Lucas & Donnellan,
2011; Roberts & Mroczek, 2008). Longitudinal studies reveal average changes
during adulthood in the expression of some traits (e.g., neuroticism and
openness decrease with age and conscientiousness increases) and individual
differences in these patterns due to idiosyncratic life events (e.g., divorce,
illness). Longitudinal research also suggests that adult personality traits, such
as conscientiousness, predict important life outcomes including job success,
health, and longevity (Friedman, Tucker, Tomlinson-Keasey, Schwartz, Wingard,
& Criqui, 1993; Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007).
723
In contrast to the relative stability of personality traits, theories about the

aging
self-propose
changes
in
self-related
knowledge,
beliefs,
and
autobiographical narratives. Responses to questions such as Tell me

something about yourself. Who are you? "What are your hopes for the future?"
provide insight into the characteristics and life themes that an individual
considers uniquely distinguish him or herself from others. These selfdescriptions enhance self-esteem and guide behavior (Markus & Nurius, 1986;
McAdams, 2006). Theory suggests that as we age, themes that were relatively
unimportant in young and middle adulthood gain in salience (e.g., generativity,
health) and that people view themselves as improving over time (Ross & Wilson,
2003). Reorganizing personal life narratives and self-descriptions are the major
tasks of midlife and young-old age due to transformations in professional and
family roles and obligations. In advanced old age, self-descriptions are often
characterized by a life review and reflections about having lived a long life. Birren
and Schroots (2006), for example, found the process of life review in late life
helped individuals confront and cope with the challenges of old age.
One aspect of the self that particularly interests life span and life course
psychologists is the individuals perception and evaluation of their own aging
and identification with an age group. Subjective age is a multidimensional
construct that indicates how old (or young) a person feels and into which age
group a person categorizes him- or herself. After early adulthood, most people
say that they feel younger than their chronological age and the gap between
subjective age and actual age generally increases. On average, after age 40
people report feeling 20% younger than their actual age (e.g., Rubin & Berntsen,
2006). Asking people how satisfied they are with their own aging assesses an
evaluative component of age identity. Whereas some aspects of age identity
are positively valued (e.g., acquiring seniority in a profession or becoming a
grandparent), others may be less valued, depending on societal context.
Perceived physical age (i.e., the age one looks in a mirror) is one aspect that
requires considerable self-related adaptation in social and cultural contexts that
724
value young bodies. Feeling younger and being satisfied with ones own aging
are expressions of positive self-perceptions of aging. They reflect the operation
of self-related processes that enhance well-being. Levy (2009) found that older
individuals who are able to adapt to and accept changes in their appearance
and physical capacity in a positive way report higher well-being, have better
health, and live longer.
Social Relationships
Social ties to family, friends, mentors, and peers are primary resources of
information, support, and comfort. Individuals develop and age together with
family and friends and interact with others in the community. Across the life
course, social ties are accumulated, lost, and transformed. Already in early life,
there are multiple sources of heterogeneity in the characteristics of each
person's social network of relationships (e.g., size, composition, and quality).
Life course and life span theories and research about age-related patterns in
social relationships focus on understanding changes in the processes
underlying social connections. Antonucci's Convoy Model of Social Relations
(2001; Kahn & Antonucci, 1980), for example, suggests that the social
connections that people accumulate are held together by exchanges in social
support (e.g., tangible and emotional). The frequency, types, and reciprocity of
the exchanges change with age and in response to need, and in turn, these
exchanges impact the health and well-being of the givers and receivers in the
convoy. In many relationships, it is not the actual objective exchange of support
that is critical but instead the perception that support is available if needed
(Uchino, 2009). Carstensens Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (1993;
Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999) focuses on changes in motivation for
actively seeking social contact with others. She proposes that with increasing
age our motivational goals change from information gathering to emotion
regulation. To optimize the experience of positive affect, older adults actively
725
restrict their social life to prioritize time spent with emotionally close significant
others. In line with this, older marriages are found to be characterized by
enhanced positive and reduced negative interactions and older partners show
more affectionate behavior during conflict discussions than do middle-aged
partners (Carstensen, Gottman, & Levenson, 1995). Research showing that
older adults have smaller networks compared to young adults and tend to avoid
negative interactions also supports this theory. Similar selective processes are
also observed when time horizons for interactions with close partners shrink
temporarily for young adults (e.g., impending geographical separations).
Much research focuses on the associations between specific effects of longterm social relationships and health in later life. Older married individuals who
receive positive social and emotional support from their partner generally
report better health than their unmarried peers (Antonucci, 2001; Umberson,
Williams, Powers, Liu, & Needham, 2006; Waite & Gallagher, 2000). Despite the
overall positive health effects of being married in old age (compared with being
widowed, divorced, or single), living as a couple can have a "dark side" if the
relationship is strained or if one partner is the primary caregiver. The
consequences of positive and negative aspects of relationships are complex
(Birditt & Antonucci, 2008; Rook, 1998; Uchino, 2009). For example, in some
circumstances, criticism from a partner may be perceived as valid and useful
feedback whereas in others it is considered unwarranted and hurtful. In longterm relationships, habitual negative exchanges might have diminished effects.
Parent-child and sibling relationships are often the most long-term and
emotion-laden social ties. Across the life span, the parent-child tie, for example,
is characterized by a paradox of solidarity, conflict, and ambivalence
(Fingerman, Chen, Hay, Cichy, & Lefkowitz, 2006).
726
Emotion and Well-being

As we get older, the likelihood of losing loved ones or experiencing declines in
health increases. Does the experience of such losses result in decreases in wellbeing in older adulthood? Researchers have found that well-being differs across
the life span and that the patterns of these differences depend on how wellbeing is measured.
Measures of global subjective well-being assess individuals overall
perceptions of their lives. This can include questions about life satisfaction or
judgments of whether individuals are currently living the best life possible. What
factors may contribute to how people respond to these questions? Age, health,
personality, social support, and life experiences have been shown to influence
judgments of global well-being. It is important to note that predictors of wellbeing may change as we age. What is important to life satisfaction in young
adulthood can be different in later adulthood (George, 2010). Early research on
well-being argued that life events such as marriage or divorce can temporarily
influence well-being, but people quickly adapt and return to a neutral baseline
(called the hedonic treadmill; Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2006). More recent
research suggests otherwise. Using longitudinal data, researchers have
examined well-being prior to, during, and after major life events such as
widowhood, marriage, and unemployment (Lucas, 2007). Different life events
influence well-being in different ways, and individuals do not often adapt back
to baseline levels of well-being. The influence of events, such as unemployment,
may have a lasting negative influence on well-being as people age. Research
suggests that global well-being is highest in early and later adulthood and lowest
in midlife (Stone, Schwartz, Broderick, & Deaton, 2010).
727
Hedonic well-being refers to the emotional component of well-being and

includes measures of positive (e.g., happiness, contentment) and negative
affect (e.g., stress, sadness). The pattern of positive affect across the adult life
span is similar to that of global well-being, with experiences of positive emotions
such as happiness and enjoyment being highest in young and older adulthood.
Experiences of negative affect, particularly stress and anger, tend to decrease
with age. Experiences of sadness are lowest in early and later adulthood
compared to midlife (Stone et al., 2010). Other research finds that older adults
report more positive and less negative affect than middle age and younger
adults (Magai, 2008; Mroczek, 2001). It should be noted that both global wellbeing and positive affect tend to taper off during late older adulthood and these
declines may be accounted for by increases in health-related losses during these
years (Charles & Carstensen, 2010).
Psychological well-being aims to evaluate the positive aspects of
psychosocial development, as opposed to factors of ill-being, such as
depression or anxiety. Ryffs model of psychological well-being proposes six
core dimensions of positive well-being. Older adults tend to report higher
environmental mastery (feelings of competence and control in managing
everyday life) and autonomy (independence), lower personal growth and
purpose in life, and similar levels of positive relations with others as younger
individuals (Ryff, 1995). Links between health and interpersonal flourishing, or
having high-quality connections with others, may be important in
understanding how to optimize quality of life in old age (Ryff & Singer, 2000).
Successful Aging and Longevity

Increases in average life expectancy in the 20th century and evidence from
twin studies that suggests that genes account for only 25% of the variance in
human life spans have opened new questions about implications for individuals
and society (Christensen, Doblhammer, Rau, & Vaupel, 2009). What
728
environmental and behavioral factors contribute to a healthy long life? Is it

possible to intervene to slow processes of aging or to minimize cognitive decline,
prevent dementia, and ensure life quality at the end of life (Fratiglioni, PaillardBorg, & Winblad, 2004; Hertzog, Kramer, Wilson, & Lindenberger, 2009; Lang,
Baltes, & Wagner, 2007)? Should interventions focus on late life, midlife, or
indeed begin in early life? Suggestions that pathological change (e.g., dementia)
is not an inevitable component of aging and that pathology could at least be
delayed until the very end of life led to theories about successful aging and
proposals about targets for intervention. Rowe and Kahn (1997) defined three
criteria of successful aging: (a) the relative avoidance of disease, disability, and
risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity; (b) the maintenance
of high physical and cognitive functioning; and (c) active engagement in social
and productive activities. Although such definitions of successful aging are
value-laden, research and behavioral interventions have subsequently been
guided by this model. For example, research has suggested that age-related
declines in cognitive functioning across the adult life span may be slowed
through physical exercise and lifestyle interventions (Kramer & Erickson, 2007).
It is recognized, however, that societal and environmental factors also play a
role and that there is much room for social change and technical innovation to
accommodate the needs of the Baby Boomers and later generations as they
age in the next decades.
729
Outside Resources
Web: Columbia Aging Society
http://www.agingsocietynetwork.org/
Web: Columbia International Longevity Center
http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/academic-departments/centers/columbiaaging/international-longevity-center-knowledge-transfer
Web: National Institute on Aging
http://www.nia.nih.gov/
Web: Stanford Center Longevity
http://longevity3.stanford.edu/
1. How do age stereotypes and intergenerational social interactions shape
quality of life in older adults? What are the implications of the research of
Levy and others?
2. Researchers suggest that there is both stability and change in Big Five
personality traits after age 30. What is stable? What changes?
3. Describe the Social Convoy Model of Antonucci. What are the implications
of this model for older adults?
4. Memory declines during adulthood. Is this statement correct? What does
research show?
5. Is dementia inevitable in old age? What factors are currently thought to be
protective?
6. What are the components of successful aging described by Rowe and Kahn
(1998) and others? What outcomes are used to evaluate successful aging?
Vocabulary
Age identity
How old or young people feel compared to their chronological age; after early
adulthood, most people feel younger than their chronological age.
Autobiographical narratives
A qualitative research method used to understand characteristics and life
themes that an individual considers to uniquely distinguish him- or herself from
others.
Average life expectancy
Mean number of years that 50% of people in a specific birth cohort are expected
to survive. This is typically calculated from birth but is also sometimes recalculated for people who have already reached a particular age (e.g., 65).
Cohort
Group of people typically born in the same year or historical period, who share
common experiences over time; sometimes called a generation (e.g., Baby
Boom Generation).
Convoy Model of Social Relations
Theory that proposes that the frequency, types, and reciprocity of social
exchanges change with age. These social exchanges impact the health and wellbeing of the givers and receivers in the convoy.
Cross-sectional studies
Research method that provides information about age group differences; age
differences are confounded with cohort differences and effects related to
history and time of study.
Crystallized intelligence
Type of intellectual ability that relies on the application of knowledge,
experience, and learned information.
Fluid intelligence
Type of intelligence that relies on the ability to use information processing
resources to reason logically and solve novel problems.
Global subjective well-being

Individuals perceptions of and satisfaction with their lives as a whole.
Hedonic well-being
Component of well-being that refers to emotional experiences, often including
measures of positive (e.g., happiness, contentment) and negative affect (e.g.,
stress, sadness).
Heterogeneity
Inter-individual and subgroup differences in level and rate of change over time.
Inhibitory functioning
Ability to focus on a subset of information while suppressing attention to less
relevant information.
Intra- and inter-individual differences

Different patterns of development observed within an individual (intra-) or
between individuals (inter-).
Life course theories

Theory of development that highlights the effects of social expectations of agerelated life events and social roles; additionally considers the lifelong cumulative
effects of membership in specific cohorts and sociocultural subgroups and
exposure to historical events.
Life span theories

Theory of development that emphasizes the patterning of lifelong within- and
between-person differences in the shape, level, and rate of change trajectories.
Longitudinal studies
Research method that collects information from individuals at multiple time
points over time, allowing researchers to track cohort differences in age-related
change to determine cumulative effects of different life experiences.
Processing speed
The time it takes individuals to perform cognitive operations (e.g., process
information, react to a signal, switch attention from one task to another, find a
specific target object in a complex picture).
Psychometric approach
Approach to studying intelligence that examines performance on tests of
intellectual functioning.
Recall
Type of memory task where individuals are asked to remember previously
learned information without the help of external cues.
Recognition
Type of memory task where individuals are asked to remember previously
learned information with the assistance of cues.
Self-perceptions of aging
An individuals perceptions of their own aging process; positive perceptions of
aging have been shown to be associated with greater longevity and health.
Social network
Network of people with whom an individual is closely connected; social
networks provide emotional, informational, and material support and offer
opportunities for social engagement.
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
Theory proposed to explain the reduction of social partners in older adulthood;
posits that older adults focus on meeting emotional over information-gathering
goals, and adaptively select social partners who meet this need.
Subjective age
A multidimensional construct that indicates how old (or young) a person feels
and into which age group a person categorizes him- or herself
Successful aging
Includes three components: avoiding disease, maintaining high levels of
cognitive and physical functioning, and having an actively engaged lifestyle.
Working memory
Memory system that allows for information to be simultaneously stored and
utilized or manipulated.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Aging by Tara Queen and Jacqui Smith is licensed
deed.en_US.
Topic 5
Cognition and Language
Attention
Frances Friedrich
University of Utah
nobaproject.com
Abstract
We use the term attention all the time, but what processes or abilities does
that concept really refer to? This chapter will focus on how attention allows us
to select certain parts of our environment and ignore other parts, and what
happens to the ignored information. A key concept is the idea that we are limited
in how much we can do at any one time. So we will also consider what happens
when someone tries to do several things at once, such as driving while using
electronic devices.
Learning Objectives
Understand why selective attention is important and how it can be studied.
Learn about different models of when and how selection can occur.
Understand how divided attention or multitasking is studied, and

implications of multitasking in situations such as distracted driving.
What is attention?
Before we begin exploring attention in its various forms, take a moment to
consider how you think about the concept. How would you define attention, or
how do you use the term? We certainly use the word very frequently in our
everyday language: ATTENTION! USE ONLY AS DIRECTED! warns the label on
the medicine bottle, meaning be alert to possible danger. Pay attention! pleads
the weary seventh-grade teacher, not warning about danger (with possible
exceptions, depending on the teacher) but urging the students to focus on the
task at hand. We may refer to a child who is easily distracted as having an
attention disorder, although we also are told that Americans have an attention
span of about 8 seconds, down from 12 seconds in 2000, suggesting that we
all have trouble sustaining concentration for any amount of time (from How
that number was determined is not clear from the Web site, nor is it clear how
attention span in the goldfish9 seconds!was measured, but the fact that
our average span reportedly is less than that of a goldfish is intriguing, to say
the least.
William James wrote extensively about attention in the late 1800s. An often
quoted passage (James, 1890/1983) beautifully captures how intuitively obvious
the concept of attention is, while it remains very difficult to define in measurable,
concrete terms:
Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind,
in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible
objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are
of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively
with others. (pp. 381382)
Notice that this description touches on the conscious nature of attention,
as well as the notion that what is in consciousness is often controlled voluntarily
but can also be determined by events that capture our attention. Implied in this
description is the idea that we seem to have a limited capacity for information
nobaproject.com - Attention
748
processing, and that we can only attend to or be consciously aware of a small

amount of information at any given time.
Many aspects of attention have been studied in the field of psychology. In
some respects, we define different types of attention by the nature of the task
used to study it. For example, a crucial issue in World War II was how long an
individual could remain highly alert and accurate while watching a radar screen
for enemy planes, and this problem led psychologists to study how attention
works under such conditions. When watching for a rare event, it is easy to allow
concentration to lag. (This a continues to be a challenge today for TSA agents,
charged with looking at images of the contents of your carry-on items in search
of knives, guns, or shampoo bottles larger than 3 oz.) Attention in the context
of this type of search task refers to the level of sustained attentionor vigilance
one can maintain. In contrast, divided attention tasks allow us to determine
how well individuals can attend to many sources of information at once. Spatial
attention refers specifically to how we focus on one part of our environment
and how we move attention to other locations in the environment. These are
all examples of different aspects of attention, but an implied element of most
of these ideas is the concept of selective attention; some information is
attended to while other information is intentionally blocked out. This chapter
will focus on important issues in selective and divided attention, addressing
these questions:
Can we pay attention to several sources of information at once, or do we

have a limited capacity for information?
How do we select what to pay attention to?
What happens to information that we try to ignore?
Can we learn to divide attention between multiple tasks?
749
Selective Attention
The Cocktail Party
Selective attention is the ability to select certain stimuli in the environment to
process, while ignoring distracting information. One way to get an intuitive
sense of how attention works is to consider situations in which attention is
used. A party provides an excellent example for our purposes. Many people
may be milling around, there is a dazzling variety of colors and sounds and
smells, the buzz of many conversations is striking. There are so many
conversations going on; how is it possible to select just one and follow it? You
dont have to be looking at the person talking; you may be listening with great
interest to some gossip while pretending not to hear. However, once you are
engaged in conversation with someone, you quickly become aware that you
cannot also listen to other conversations at the same time. You also are probably
not aware of how tight your shoes feel or of the smell of a nearby flower
arrangement. On the other hand, if someone behind you mentions your name,
you typically notice it immediately and may start attending to that (much more
interesting) conversation. This situation highlights an interesting set of
observations. We have an amazing ability to select and track one voice, visual
object, etc., even when a million things are competing for our attention, but at
the same time, we seem to be limited in how much we can attend to at one
time, which in turn suggests that attention is crucial in selecting what is
important. How does it all work?
750
Dichotic Listening Studies

This cocktail party scenario is the quintessential example of selective attention,
and it is essentially what some early researchers tried to replicate under
controlled laboratory conditions as a starting point for understanding the role
of attention in perception (e.g., Cherry, 1953; Moray, 1959). In particular, they
used dichotic listening and shadowing tasks to evaluate the selection process.
Dichotic listening simply refers to the situation when two messages are
presented simultaneously to an individual, with one message in each ear. In
order to control which message the person attends to, the individual is asked
to repeat back or shadow one of the messages as he hears it. For example,
lets say that a story about a camping trip is presented to Johns left ear, and a
story about Abe Lincoln is presented to his right ear. The typical dichotic listening
task would have John repeat the story presented to one ear as he hears it. Can
he do that without being distracted by the information in the other ear?
People can become pretty good at the shadowing task, and they can easily
report the content of the message that they attend to. But what happens to the
ignored message? Typically, people can tell you if the ignored message was a
mans or a womans voice, or other physical characteristics of the speech, but
they cannot tell you what the message was about. In fact, many studies have
shown that people in a shadowing task were not aware of a change in the
language of the message (e.g., from English to German; Cherry, 1953), and they
didn't even notice when the same word was repeated in the unattended ear
more than 35 times (Moray, 1959)! Only the basic physical characteristics, such
as the pitch of the unattended message, could be reported.
On the basis of these types of experiments, it seems that we can answer the
first question about how much information we can attend to very easily: not
very much. We clearly have a limited capacity for processing information for
meaning, making the selection process all the more important. The question
becomes: How does this selection process work?
751
Models of Selective Attention

Broadbents Filter Model. Many researchers have investigated how selection
occurs and what happens to ignored information. Donald Broadbent was one
of the first to try to characterize the selection process. His Filter Model was
based on the dichotic listening tasks described above as well as other types of
experiments (Broadbent, 1958). He found that people select information on
the basis of physical features: the sensory channel (or ear) that a message was
coming in, the pitch of the voice, the color or font of a visual message. People
seemed vaguely aware of the physical features of the unattended information,
but had no knowledge of the meaning. As a result, Broadbent argued that
selection occurs very early, with no additional processing for the unselected
information. A flowchart of the model might look like this:
Divided Attention and Multitasking

In spite of the evidence of our limited capacity, we all like to think that we can
do several things at once. Some people claim to be able to multitask without
any problem: reading a textbook while watching television and talking with
friends; talking on the phone while playing computer games; texting while
driving. The fact is that we sometimes can seem to juggle several things at once,
but the question remains whether dividing attention in this way impairs
performance.
Is it possible to overcome the limited capacity that we experience when
engaging in cognitive tasks? We know that with extensive practice, we can
acquire skills that do not appear to require conscious attention. As we walk
down the street, we dont need to think consciously about what muscle to
contract in order to take the next step. Indeed, paying attention to automated
skills can lead to a breakdown in performance, or choking (e.g., Beilock & Carr,
2001). But what about higher level, more mentally demanding tasks: Is it
752
possible to learn to perform two complex tasks at the same time?
Divided Attention Tasks

In a classic study that examined this type of divided attention task, two
participants were trained to take dictation for spoken words while reading
unrelated material for comprehension (Spelke, Hirst, & Neisser, 1976). In
divided attention tasks such as these, each task is evaluated separately, in order
to determine baseline performance when the individual can allocate as many
cognitive resources as necessary to one task at a time. Then performance is
evaluated when the two tasks are performed simultaneously. A decrease in
performance for either task would suggest that even if attention can be divided
or switched between the tasks, the cognitive demands are too great to avoid
disruption of performance. (We should note here that divided attention tasks
are designed, in principle, to see if two tasks can be carried out simultaneously.
A related research area looks at task switching and how well we can switch back
and forth among different tasks [e.g., Monsell, 2003]. It turns out that switching
itself is cognitively demanding and can impair performance.)
The focus of the Spelke et al. (1976) study was whether individuals could
learn to perform two relatively complex tasks concurrently, without impairing
performance. The participants received plenty of practicethe study lasted 17
weeks and they had a 1-hour session each day, 5 days a week. These participants
were able to learn to take dictation for lists of words and read for comprehension
without affecting performance in either task, and the authors suggested that
perhaps there are not fixed limits on our attentional capacity. However,
changing the tasks somewhat, such as reading aloud rather than silently,
impaired performance initially, so this multitasking ability may be specific to
these well-learned tasks. Indeed, not everyone could learn to perform two
complex tasks without performance costs (Hirst, Neisser, & Spelke, 1978),
although the fact that some can is impressive.
753
Distracted Driving
More relevant to our current lifestyles are questions about multitasking while
texting or having cell phone conversations. Research designed to investigate,
under controlled conditions, multitasking while driving has revealed some
surprising results. Certainly there are many possible types of distractions that
could impair driving performance, such as applying makeup using the rearview
mirror, attempting (usually in vain) to stop the kids in the backseat from fighting,
fiddling with the CD player, trying to negotiate a handheld cell phone, a cigarette,
and a soda all at once, eating a bowl of cereal while driving (!). But we tend to
have a strong sense that we CAN multitask while driving, and cars are being
built with more and more technological capabilities that encourage
multitasking. How good are we at dividing attention in these cases?
Most people acknowledge the distraction caused by texting while driving
and the reason seems obvious: Your eyes are off the road and your hands and
at least one hand (often both) are engaged while texting. However, the problem
is not simply one of occupied hands or eyes, but rather that the cognitive
demands on our limited capacity systems can seriously impair driving
performance (Strayer, Watson, & Drews, 2011). The effect of a cell phone
conversation on performance (such as not noticing someones brake lights or
responding more slowly to them) is just as significant when the individual is
having a conversation with a hands-free device as with a handheld phone; the
same impairments do not occur when listening to the radio or a book on tape
(Strayer & Johnston, 2001). Moreover, studies using eye-tracking devices have
shown that drivers are less likely to later recognize objects that they did look at
when using a cell phone while driving (Strayer & Drews, 2007). These findings
demonstrate that cognitive distractions such as cell phone conversations can
produce inattentional blindness, or a lack of awareness of what is right before
your eyes (see also, Simons & Chabris, 1999). Sadly, although we all like to think
that we can multitask while driving, in fact the percentage of people who can
754
truly perform cognitive tasks without impairing their driving performance is

estimated to be about 2% (Watson & Strayer, 2010).
Summary
It may be useful to think of attention as a mental resource, one that is needed
to focus on and fully process important information, especially when there is
a lot of distracting noise threatening to obscure the message. Our selective
attention system allows us to find or track an object or conversation in the midst
of distractions. Whether the selection process occurs early or late in the analysis
of those events has been the focus of considerable research, and in fact how
selection occurs may very well depend on the specific conditions. With respect
to divided attention, in general we can only perform one cognitively demanding
task at a time, and we may not even be aware of unattended events even though
they might seem too obvious to miss (check out some examples in the Outside
Resources below). This type of inattention blindness can occur even in welllearned tasks, such as driving while talking on a cell phone. Understanding how
attention works is clearly important, even for our everyday lives.
755
Outside Resources
Video: Here's a wild example of how much we fail to notice when our attention
is captured by one element of a scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA&feature=related
Video: Try this test to see how well you can focus on a task in the face of a
lot of distraction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4&NR=1
1. Discuss the implications of the different models of selective attention for
everyday life. For instance, what advantages and disadvantages would be
associated with being able to filter out all unwanted information at a very
early stage in processing? What are the implications of processing all ignored
information fully, even if you aren't consciously aware of that information?
2. Think of examples of when you feel you can successfully multitask and when
you cant. Discuss what aspects of the tasks or the situation seem to
influence divided attention performance. How accurate do you think you
are in judging your own multitasking ability?
3. What are the public policy implications of current evidence of inattentional
blindness as a result of distracted driving? Should this evidence influence
traffic safety laws? What additional studies of distracted driving would you
propose?
Vocabulary
Dichotic listening
An experimental task in which two messages are presented to different ears.
Divided attention
The ability to flexibly allocate attentional resources between two or more
concurrent tasks.
Inattentional blindness
The failure to notice a fully visible object when attention is devoted to something
else.
Limited capacity
The notion that humans have limited mental resources that can be used at a
given time.
Selective attention
The ability to select certain stimuli in the environment to process, while ignoring
distracting information.
Shadowing
A task in which the individual is asked to repeat an auditory message as it is
presented.
Subliminal perception
The ability to process information for meaning when the individual is not
consciously aware of that information.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Attention by Frances Friedrich is licensed under
en_US.
Consciousness
Ken Paller & Satoru Suzuki
Northwestern University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Consciousness is the ultimate mystery. What is it and why do we have it? These
questions are difficult to answer, even though consciousness is so fundamental
to our existence. Perhaps the natural world could exist largely as it is without
human consciousnessbut taking away consciousness would essentially take
away our humanity. Psychological science has addressed questions about
consciousness in part by distinguishing neurocognitive functions allied with
conscious experience from those that transpire without conscious experience.
The continuing investigation of these sorts of distinctions is yielding an empirical
basis for new hypotheses about the precursors of conscious experience. Richer
conceptualizations are thus being built, combining first-person and thirdperson perspectives to provide new clues to the mystery of consciousness.
Learning Objectives
Understand scientific approaches to comprehending consciousness.
Be familiar with evidence about human vision, memory, body awareness,

and decision making relevant to the study of consciousness.
Appreciate some contemporary theories about consciousness.
Conscious Experiences
Contemplate the unique experience of being you at this moment! You, and only
you, have direct knowledge of your own conscious experiences. At the same
time, you cannot know consciousness from anyone elses inside view. How can
we begin to understand this fantastic ability to have private, conscious
experiences?
In a sense, everything you know is from your own vantage point, with your
own consciousness at the center. Yet the scientific study of consciousness
confronts the challenge of producing general understanding that goes beyond
what can be known from one individuals perspective.
To delve into this topic, some terminology must first be considered. The term
consciousness can denote the ability of a person to generate a series of
conscious experiences one after another. Here we include experiences of
feeling and understanding sensory input, of a temporal sequence of
autobiographical events, of imagination, of emotions and moods, of ideas, of
memoriesthe whole range of mental contents open to an individual.
Consciousness can also refer to the state of an individual, as in a sharp or
dull state of consciousness, a drug-induced state such as euphoria, or a
diminished state due to drowsiness, sleep, neurological abnormality, or coma.
In this chapter, we focus not on states of consciousness or on selfconsciousness, but rather on the process that unfolds in the course of a
conscious experiencea moment of awarenessthe essential ingredient of
consciousness.
nobaproject.com - Consciousness
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Other Minds
You have probably experienced the sense of knowing exactly what a friend is
thinking. Various signs can guide our inferences about consciousness in others.
We can try to infer whats going on in someone elses mind by relying on the
assumption that they feel what we imagine we would feel in the same situation.
We might account for someones actions or emotional expressions through our
knowledge of that individual and our careful observations of their behavior. In
this way, we often display substantial insight into what they are thinking. Other
times we are completely wrong.
By measuring brain activity using various neuroscientific technologies, we
can acquire additional information useful for deciphering another persons
state of mind. In special circumstances such inferences can be highly accurate,
but limitations on mind reading remain, highlighting the difficulty of
understanding exactly how conscious experiences arise.
A Science of Conciousness
Attempts to understand consciousness have been pervasive throughout
human history, mostly dominated by philosophical analyses focused on the
first-person perspective. Now we have a wider set of approaches that includes
philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and contemplative
science (Blackmore, 2006; Koch, 2012; Zelazo, Moscovitch, & Thompson, 2007;
Zeman, 2002).
The challenge for this combination of approaches is to give a comprehensive
explanation of consciousness. That explanation would include describing the
benefits of consciousness, particularly for behavioral capabilities that conscious
experiences allow, that trump automatic behaviors. Subjective experiences also
need to be described in a way that logically shows how they result from
precursor events in the human brain. Moreover, a full account would describe
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how consciousness depends on biological, environmental, social, cultural, and

developmental factors.
At the outset, a central question is how to conceive of consciousness relative
to other things we know. Objects in our environment have a physical basis and
are understood to be composed of constituents, such that they can be broken
down into molecules, elements, atoms, particles, and so on. Yet we can also
understand things relationally and conceptually. Sometimes a phenomenon
can best be conceived as a process rather than a physical entity (e.g., digestion
is a process whereby food is broken down). What, then, is the relationship
between our conscious thoughts and the physical universe, and in particular,
our brains?
Rene Decartess position, dualism, was that mental and physical are, in
essence, different substances. This view can be contrasted with reductionist
views that mental phenomena can be explained via descriptions of physical
phenomena. Although the dualism/reductionism debate continues, there are
many ways in which mind can be shown to depend on brain.
A prominent orientation to the scientific study of consciousness is to seek
understanding of these dependenciesto see how much light they can shed
on consciousness. Significant advances in our knowledge about consciousness
have thus been gained, as seen in the following examples.
Conscious Experiences of Visual Perception

Suppose you meet your friend at a crowded train station. You may notice a
subtle smile on her face. At that moment you are probably unaware of many
other things happening within your view. What makes you aware of some things
but not others? You probably have your own intuitions about this, but
experiments have proven wrong many common intuitions about what
generates visual awareness.
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For instance, you may think that if you attentively look at a bright spot, you
must be aware of it. Not so. In a phenomenon known as motion-induced
blindness, bright discs completely vanish from your awareness in full attention.
To experience this for yourself, see this chapter's Outside Resource section for
a demonstration of motion-induced blindness.
You may think that if you deeply analyze an image, decoding its meaning
and making a decision about it, you must be aware of the image. Not necessarily.
When a number is briefly flashed and rapidly replaced by a random pattern,
you may have no awareness of it, despite the fact that your brain allows you to
determine that the number is greater than 5, and then prepare your right hand
for a key press if that is what you were instructed to do (Dehaene et al., 1998).
Thus, neither the brightness of an image, paying full attention to it, nor
deeply analyzing it guarantees that you will be aware of it. What, then, is the
crucial ingredient of visual awareness?
A contemporary answer is that our awareness of a visual feature depends
on a certain type of reciprocal exchange of information across multiple brain
areas, particularly in the cerebral cortex. In support of this idea, directly
activating your visual motion area (known as V5) with an externally applied
magnetic field (transcranial magnetic stimulation) will make you see moving
dots. This is not surprising. What is surprising is that activating your visual
motion area alone does not let you see motion. You will not see moving dots if
the feedback signal from V5 to the primary visual cortex is disrupted by a further
transcranial magnetic stimulation pulse (Pascual-Leone & Walsh, 2001). The
reverberating reciprocal exchange of information between higher-level visual
areas and primary visual cortex appears to be essential for generating visual
awareness.
This idea can also explain why people with certain types of brain damage
lack visual awareness. Consider a patient with brain damage limited to primary
visual cortex who claims not to see anything a problem termed cortical
blindness. Other areas of visual cortex may still receive visual input through
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projections from brain structures such as the thalamus and superior colliculus,
and these networks may mediate some preserved visual abilities that take place
without awareness. For example, a patient with cortical blindness might detect
moving stimuli via V5 activation but still have no conscious experiences of the
stimuli, because the reverberating reciprocal exchange of information cannot
take place between V5 and the damaged primary visual cortex. The preserved
ability to detect motion might be evident only when a guess is required (guess
whether something moved to the left or right)otherwise the answer would
be I didnt see anything. This phenomenon of blindsight refers to blindness
due to a neurological cause that preserves abilities to analyze and respond to
visual stimuli that are not consciously experienced (Lamme, 2001).
If exchanges of information across brain areas are crucial for generating
visual awareness, neural synchronization must play an important role because
it promotes neural communication. A neurons excitability varies over time.
Communication among neural populations is enhanced when their oscillatory
cycles of excitability are synchronized. In this way, information transmitted from
one population in its excitable phase is received by the target population when
it is also in its excitable phase. Indeed, oscillatory neural synchronization in the
beta- and gamma-band frequencies (identified according to the number of
oscillations per second, 1330 Hz and 30100 Hz, respectively) appears to be
closely associated with visual awareness. This idea is highlighted in the Global
Neuronal Workspace Theory of Consciousness (Dehaene & Changeux, 2011),
in which sharing of information among prefrontal, inferior parietal, and occipital
regions of the cerebral cortex is postulated to be especially important for
generating awareness.
A related view, the Information Integration Theory of Consciousness, is that
shared information itself constitutes consciousness (Tononi, 2004). An
organism would have minimal consciousness if the structure of shared
information is simple, whereas it would have rich conscious experiences if the
structure of shared information is complex. Roughly speaking, complexity is
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defined as the number of intricately interrelated informational units or ideas

generated by a web of local and global sharing of information. The degree of
consciousness in an organism (or a machine) would be high if numerous and
diversely interrelated ideas arise, low if only a few ideas arise or if there are
numerous ideas but they are random and unassociated. Computational
analyses provide additional perspectives on such proposals. In particular, if
every neuron is connected to every other neuron, all neurons would tend to
activate together, generating few distinctive ideas. With a very low level of
neuronal connectivity at the other extreme, all neurons would tend to activate
independently, generating numerous but unassociated ideas. To promote a rich
level of consciousness, then, a suitable mixture of short-, medium-, and longrange neural connections would be needed. The human cerebral cortex may
indeed have such an optimum structure of neural connectivity. Given how
consciousness is conceptualized in this theory as graded rather than all-ornone, a quantitative approach (e.g., Casali et al., 2013; Monti et al., 2013) could
conceivably be used to estimate the level of consciousness in nonhuman
species and artificial beings.
Conscious Experiences of Memory

The pinnacle of conscious human memory functions is known as episodic
recollection because it allows one to reexperience the past, to virtually relive
an earlier event. People who suffer from amnesia due to neurological damage
to certain critical brain areas have poor memory for events and facts. Their
memory deficit disrupts the type of memory termed declarative memory and
makes it difficult to consciously remember. However, amnesic insults typically
spare a set of memory functions that do not involve conscious remembering.
These other types of memory, which include various habits, motor skills,
cognitive skills, and procedures, can be demonstrated when an individual
executes various actions as a function of prior learning, but in these cases a
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conscious experience of remembering is not necessarily included.

Research on amnesia has thus supported the proposal that conscious
remembering requires a specific set of brain operations that depend on
networks of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Some of the other types of memory
involve only subcortical brain regions, but there are also notable exceptions. In
particular, perceptual priming is a type of memory that does not entail the
conscious experience of remembering and that is typically preserved in
amnesia. Perceptual priming is thought to reflect a fluency of processing
produced by a prior experience, even when the individual cannot remember
that prior experience. For example, a word or face might be perceived more
efficiently if it had been viewed minutes earlier than if it hadnt. Whereas a
person with amnesia can demonstrate this item-specific fluency due to changes
in corresponding cortical areas, they nevertheless would be impaired if asked
to recognize the words or faces they previously experienced. A reasonable
conclusion on the basis of this evidence is that remembering an episode is a
conscious experience not merely due to the involvement of one portion of the
cerebral cortex, but rather due to the specific configuration of cortical activity
involved in the sharing or integration of information.
Further neuroscientific studies of memory retrieval have shed additional
light on the necessary steps for conscious recollection. For example, storing
memories for the events we experience each day appears to depend on
connections among multiple cortical regions as well as on a brain structure
known as the hippocampus. Memory storage becomes more secure due to
interactions between the hippocampus and cerebral cortex that can transpire
over extended time periods following the initial registration of information.
Conscious retrieval thus depends on the activity of elaborate sets of networks
in the cortex. Memory retrieval that does not include conscious recollection
depends either on restricted portions of the cortex or on brain regions separate
from the cortex.
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The ways in which memory expressions that include the awareness of

remembering differ from those that do not thus highlight the special nature of
conscious memory experiences (Paller, Voss, & Westerberg, 2009; Voss, Lucas,
& Paller, 2012). Indeed, memory storage in the brain can be very complex for
many different types of memory, but there are specific physiological
prerequisites for the type of memory that coincides with conscious recollection.
Conscious Experiences of Body Awareness

The brain can generate body awareness by registering coincident sensations.
For example, when you rub your arm, you see your hand rubbing your arm and
simultaneously feel the rubbing sensation in both your hand and your arm.
This simultaneity tells you that it is your hand and your arm. Infants use the
same type of coincident sensations to initially develop the self/nonself
distinction that is fundamental to our construal of the world.
The fact that your brain constructs body awareness in this way can be
experienced via the rubber-hand illusion (see Outside Resource on this). If you
see a rubber hand being rubbed and simultaneously feel the corresponding
rubbing sensation on your own body out of view, you will momentarily feel a
bizarre sensationthat the rubber hand is your own.
The construction of our body awareness appears to be mediated by specific
brain mechanisms involving a region of the cortex known as the
temporoparietal junction. Damage to this brain region can generate distorted
body awareness, such as feeling a substantially elongated torso. Altered neural
activity in this region through artificial stimulation can also produce an out-ofbody experience (see this chapters Outside Resources section), in which you
feel like your body is in another location and you have a novel perspective on
your body and the world, such as from the ceiling of the room.
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Remarkably, comparable brain mechanisms may also generate the normal

awareness of the sense of self and the sensation of being inside a body. In the
context of virtual reality this sensation is known as presence (the compelling
experience of actually being there). Our normal localization of the self may be
equally artificial, in that it is not a given aspect of life but is constructed through
a special brain mechanism.
A Social Neuroscience Theory of Consciousness (Graziano & Kastner, 2011)
ascribes an important role to our ability to localize our own sense of self. The
main premise of the theory is that you fare better in a social environment to
the extent that you can predict what people are going to do. So, the human
brain has developed mechanisms to construct models of other peoples
attention and intention, and to localize those models in the corresponding
peoples heads to keep track of them. The proposal is that the same brain
mechanism was adapted to construct a model of ones own attention and
intention, which is then localized in ones own head and perceived as
consciousness. If so, then the primary function of consciousness is to allow us
to predict our own behavior. Research is needed to test the major predictions
of this new theory, such as whether changes in consciousness (e.g., due to
normal fluctuations, psychiatric disease, brain damage) are closely associated
with changes in the brain mechanisms that allow us to model other peoples
attention and intention.
Conscious Experiences of Decision Making

Choosing among multiple possible actions, the sense of volition, is closely
associated with our subjective feeling of consciousness. When we make a lot
of decisions, we may feel especially conscious and then feel exhausted, as if
our mental energy has been drained.
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We make decisions in two distinct ways. Sometimes we carefully analyze

and weigh different factors to reach a decision, taking full advantage of the
brains conscious mode of information processing. Other times we make a gut
decision, trusting the unconscious mode of information processing (although
it still depends on the brain). The unconscious mode is adept at simultaneously
considering numerous factors in parallel, which can yield an overall impression
of the sum total of evidence. In this case, we have no awareness of the individual
considerations. In the conscious mode, in contrast, we can carefully scrutinize
each factoralthough the act of focusing on a specific factor can interfere with
weighing in other factors.
One might try to optimize decision making by taking into account these two
strategies. A careful conscious decision should be effective when there are only
a few known factors to consider. A gut decision should be effective when a large
number of factors should be considered simultaneously. Gut decisions can
indeed be accurate on occasion (e.g., guessing which of many teams will win a
close competition), but only if you are well versed in the relevant domain (Dane,
Rockmann, & Pratt, 2012).
As we learn from our experiences, some of this gradual knowledge accrual
is unconscious; we dont know we have it and we can use it without knowing it.
On the other hand, consciously acquired information can be uniquely beneficial
by allowing additional stages of control (de Lange, van Gaal, Lamme, & Dehaene,
2011). It is often helpful to control which new knowledge we acquire and which
stored information we retrieve in accordance with our conscious goals and
beliefs.
Whether you choose to trust your gut or to carefully analyze the relevant
factors, you feel that you freely reach your own decision. Is this feeling of free
choice real? Contemporary experimental techniques fall short of answering this
existential question. However, it is likely that at least the sense of immediacy
of our decisions is an illusion.
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In one experiment, people were asked to freely consider whether to press

the right button or the left button, and to press it when they made the decision
(Soon, Brass, Heinze, & Haynes, 2008). Although they indicated that they made
the decision immediately before pressing the button, their brain activity,
measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging, predicted their
decision as much as 10 seconds before they said they freely made the decision.
In the same way, each conscious experience is likely preceded by precursor
brain events that on their own do not entail consciousness but that culminate
in a conscious experience.
In many situations, people generate a reason for an action that has nothing
to do with the actual basis of the decision to act in a particular way. We all have
a propensity to retrospectively produce a reasonable explanation for our
behavior, yet our behavior is often the result of unconscious mental processing,
not conscious volition.
Why do we feel that each of our actions is immediately preceded by our own
decision to act? This illusion may help us distinguish our own actions from those
of other agents. For example, while walking hand-in-hand with a friend, if you
felt you made a decision to turn left immediately before you both turned left,
then you know that you initiated the turn; otherwise, you would know that your
friend did.
Even if some aspects of the decision-making process are illusory, to what
extent are our decisions determined by prior conditions? It certainly seems that
we can have full control of some decisions, such as when we create a conscious
intention that leads to a specific action: You can decide to go left or go right. To
evaluate such impressions, further research must develop a better
understanding of the neurocognitive basis of volition, which is a tricky
undertaking, given that decisions are conceivably influenced by unconscious
processing, neural noise, and the unpredictability of a vast interactive network
of neurons in the brain.
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Yet belief in free choice has been shown to promote moral behavior, and it
is the basis of human notions of justice. The sense of free choice may be a
beneficial trait that became prevalent because it helped us flourish as social
beings.
Understanding Consciousness
Our human consciousness unavoidably colors all of our observations and our
attempts to gain understanding. Nonetheless, scientific inquiries have provided
useful perspectives on consciousness. The advances described above should
engender optimism about the various research strategies applied to date and
about the prospects for further insight into consciousness in the future.
Because conscious experiences are inherently private, they have sometimes
been taken to be outside the realm of scientific inquiry. This view idealizes
science as an endeavor involving only observations that can be verified by
multiple observers, relying entirely on the third-person perspective, or the view
from nowhere (from no particular perspective). Yet conducting science is a
human activity that depends, like other human activities, on individuals and
their subjective experiences. A rational scientific account of the world cannot
avoid the fact that people have subjective experiences.
Subjectivity thus has a place in science. Conscious experiences can be
subjected to systematic analysis and empirical tests to yield progressive
understanding. Many further questions remain to be addressed by scientists
of the future. Is the first-person perspective of a conscious experience basically
the same for all human beings, or do individuals differ fundamentally in their
introspective experiences and capabilities? Should psychological science focus
only on ordinary experiences of consciousness, or are extraordinary
experiences also relevant? Can training in introspection lead to a specific sort
of expertise with respect to conscious experience? An individual with training,
such as through extensive meditation practice, might be able to describe their
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experiences in a more precise manner, which could then support improved

characterizations of consciousness. Such a person might be able to understand
subtleties of experience that other individuals fail to notice, and thereby move
our understanding of consciousness significantly forward. These and other
possibilities await future scientific inquiries into consciousness.
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Outside Resources
1. Video: Demonstration of motion-induced blindness - Look steadily at the
blue moving pattern. One or more of the yellow spots may disappear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aye9FWgxUg
2. Web: Learn more about motion-induced blindness on Michael Bach's

website
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/mot-mib/index.html
3. Video: Clip showing a patient with blindsight, from the documentary

"Phantoms in the Brain."
http://youtu.be/Cy8FSffrNDI
4. Video: Clip on the rubber hand illusion, from the BBC science series
"Horizon."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsmkgi7FgEo
5. Video: Clip on out-of-body experiences induced using virtual reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PQAc_Z2OfQ
6. App: Visual illusions for the iPad.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/apps/color-uncovered
7. Web: Definitions of Consciousness

http://www.consciousentities.com/definitions.htm
8. Video: The mind-body problem - An interview with Ned Block
http://vimeo.com/58254376
9. Video: Imaging the Brain, Reading the Mind - A talk by Marsel Mesulam.
http://video.at.northwestern.edu/lores/SO_marsel.m4v
Video: Ted Talk - Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_lewis_don_t_take_consciousness_for_granted.
html
1. Why has consciousness evolved? Presumably it provides some beneficial
capabilities for an organism beyond behaviors that are based only on
automatic triggers or unconscious processing. What are the likely benefits
of consciousness?
2. How would you explain to a congenitally blind person the experience of
seeing red? Detailed explanations of the physics of light and neurobiology
of color processing in the brain would describe the mechanisms that give
rise to the experience of seeing red, but would not convey the experience.
What would be the best way to communicate the subjective experience
itself?
3. Our visual experiences seem to be a direct readout of information from the
world that comes into our eyes, and we usually believe that our mental
representations give us an accurate and exact re-creation of the world. Is it
possible that what we consciously perceive is not veridical, but is a limited
and distorted view, in large part a function of the specific sensory and
information-processing abilities that the brain affords?
4. When are you most consciouswhile youre calm, angry, happy, or moved;
while absorbed in a movie, video game, or athletic activity; while engaged
in a spirited conversation, making decisions, meditating, reflecting, trying
to solve a difficult problem, day dreaming, or feeling creative? How do these
considerations shed light on what consciousness is?
5. Consciousness may be a natural biological phenomenon and a chief
function of a brain, but consider the many ways in which it is also contingent
on (i) a body linked with a brain, (ii) an outside world, (iii) a social
environment, and (iv) a developmental trajectory. How do these

considerations enrich our understanding of consciousness?
6. Conscious experiences may not be limited to human beings. However, the
difficulty of inferring consciousness in other beings highlights the limitations
of our current understanding of consciousness. Many nonhuman animals
may have conscious experiences; pet owners often have no doubt about
what their pets are thinking. Computers with sufficient complexity might at
some point be consciousbut how would we know?
Vocabulary
Awareness
A conscious experience or the capability of having conscious experiences, which
is distinct from self-awareness, the conscious understanding of ones own
existence and individuality.
Conscious experience
The first-person perspective of a mental event, such as feeling some sensory
input, a memory, an idea, an emotion, a mood, or a continuous temporal
sequence of happenings.
Contemplative science
A research area concerned with understanding how contemplative practices
such as meditation can affect individuals, including changes in their behavior,
their emotional reactivity, their cognitive abilities, and their brains.
Contemplative science also seeks insights into conscious experience that can
be gained from first-person observations by individuals who have gained
extraordinary expertise in introspection.
First-person perspective
Observations made by individuals about their own conscious experiences, also
known as introspection or a subjective point of view. Phenomenology refers to
the description and investigation of such observations.
Third-person perspective
Observations made by individuals in a way that can be independently confirmed
by other individuals so as to lead to general, objective understanding. With
respect to consciousness, third-person perspectives make use of behavioral
and neural measures related to conscious experiences.
Reference List
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Consciousness by Ken Paller and Satoru Suzuki
The Unconscious
Ap Dijksterhuis
Radboud University Nijmegen
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Unconscious psychological processes have fascinated people for a very long
time. The idea that people must have an unconscious is based on the idea that
(a) there is so much going on in our brains, and the capacity of consciousness
is so small, that there must be much more than just consciousness; and that
(b) unless you believe consciousness is causally disconnected from other bodily
and mental processes, conscious experiences must be prepared by other
processes in the brain of which we are not conscious. Not only logic dictates
that action starts unconsciously, but research strongly suggests this too.
Moreover, unconscious processes are very often highly important for human
functioning, and many phenomena, such as attitude formation, goal pursuit,
stereotyping, creativity, and decision making are impossible to fully understand
without incorporating the role of unconscious processes.
Learning Objectives
Understand the logic underlying the assumption that unconscious

processes are important.
Obtain a crude understanding of some important historical thoughts about

unconscious processes.
Learn about some of the important psychological experiments on the

unconscious.
Appreciate the distinction between consciousness and attention.
A Little Bit of History

Although the term unconscious was only introduced fairly recently (in the
18th century by the German philosopher Platner, the German term being
Unbewusstsein), the relative unconsciousness of human nature has evoked
both marvel and frustration for more than two millennia. Socrates (490399
BC) argued that free will is limited, or at least so it seems, after he noticed that
people often do things they really do not want to do. He called this akrasia,
which can best be translated as the lack of control over oneself. A few centuries
later, the Roman thinker Plotinus (AD 205270) was presumably the first thinker
alluding to the possibility of unconscious psychological processes in writing:
The absence of a conscious perception is no proof of the absence of mental
activity.
These two ideas, first verbalized by Socrates and Plotinus respectively, were
and still arehotly debated in psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience.
That is, scientists still investigate the extent to which human behavior is (and/
or seems) voluntary or involuntary, and scientists still investigate the relative
importance of unconscious versus conscious psychological processes, or
mental activity in general. And, perhaps not surprisingly, both issues are still
controversial.
During the scientific revolution in Europe, our unconscious was taken away
from us, so to speak, by the French philosopher Descartes (15961650).
Descartess dualism entailed a strict distinction between body and mind.
According to Descartes, the mind produces psychological processes and
everything going on in our minds is by definition conscious. Some psychologists
have called this idea, in which mental processes taking place outside conscious
awareness were rendered impossible, the Cartesian catastrophe. It took well
over two centuries for science to fully recover from the impoverishment dictated
by Descartes.1
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This is not say that contemporaries of Descartes and later thinkers all agreed
with Descartess dualism. In fact, many of them disagreed and kept on theorizing
about unconscious psychological processes. For instance, the British
philosopher John Norris (16571711) said: We may have ideas of which we are
not conscious. . . . There are infinitely more ideas impressed on our minds than
we can possibly attend to or perceive. Immanual Kant (17241804) agreed:
The field of our sense-perceptions and sensations, of which we are not
conscious . . .is immeasurable. Norris and Kant used a logical argument that
many proponents of the importance of unconscious psychological processes
still like to point at today: There is so much going on in our brains, and the
capacity of consciousness is so small, that there must be much more than just
consciousness.
The most famous advocate of the importance of unconscious processes
arrived at the scene in the late 19th century: the Austrian neurologist Sigmund
Freud. Most people associate Freud with psychoanalysis, with his theory on id,
ego, and superego, and with his ideas on repression, hidden desires, and
dreams. Such associations are fully justified, but Freud also published lesserknown general theoretical work (e.g., Freud, 1915/1963). This theoretical work
sounds, in contrast to his psychoanalytic work, very fresh and contemporary.
For instance, Freud already argued that human behavior never starts with a
conscious process (compare this to the Libet experiment discussed below).
Freud, and also Wilhelm Wundt, pointed at another logical argument for the
necessity of unconscious psychological processes. Wundt put it like this: Our
mind is so fortunately equipped, that it brings us the most important bases for
our thoughts without our having the least knowledge of this work of elaboration.
Only the results of it become conscious. This unconscious mind is for us like an
unknown being who creates and produces for us, and finally throws the ripe
fruits in our lap. In other words, we may become consciously aware of many
different thingsthe taste of a glass of Burgundy, the beauty of the Taj Mahal,
or the sharp pain in our toe after a collision with a bedbut these experiences
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do not hover in the air before they reach us. They are prepared, somehow and
somewhere. Unless you believe consciousness is causally disconnected from
other bodily and mental processes (for instance if one assumes it is guided by
the gods), conscious experiences must be prepared by other processes in the
brain of which we are not conscious.
The German psychologist Watt (1905), in an appealing experiment, showed
that we are only consciously aware of the results of mental processes. His
participants were repeatedly presented with nouns (e.g., oak) and had to
respond with an associated word as quickly as they could. On some occasions
participants were requested to name a superordinate word (oak-tree), while
on other occasions they were asked to come up with a part (oak-acorn) or a
subordinate (oak-beam) word. Hence, participants thinking was divided into
four stages: the instructions (e.g., superordinate), the presentation of the noun
(e.g., oak), the search for an appropriate association, and the verbalization of
the reply (e.g., tree). Participants were asked to carefully introspect on all four
stages to shed light on the role of consciousness during each stage. The third
stage (searching for an association) is the stage during which the actual thinking
takes place and hence this was considered the most interesting stage. However,
unlike the other stages, this stage was, as psychologists call it, introspectively
blank: Participants could not report anything. The thinking itself was
unconscious, and participants were only conscious of the answer that surfaced.
Where Action Originates

The idea that we unconsciously prepare an action before we are conscious of
this action was tested in one of psychologys most famous experiments. Quite
some time ago, Kornhuber and Deecke (1965) did experiments in which they
asked their participants to perform a simple action, in this case flexing a finger.
They also measured EEG to investigate when the brain starts to prepare the
action. Their results showed that the first sign of unconscious preparation
794
preceded an action by about 800 milliseconds. This is a serious amount of time,

and it led Benjamin Libet to wonder whether conscious awareness of the
decision to act appears just as long or even longer in advance as well. Libet
(1985) replicated the Kornhuber and Deecke experiments while adding another
measure: conscious awareness of the decision to act. He showed that conscious
decisions follow unconscious preparation and only precede the actual
execution of the action by about 200 milliseconds. In other words, the
unconscious decides to act, we then become consciously aware of wanting to
execute the action, and finally we act.
The experiment by Libet caused quite a stir, and some people tried to save
the day for the decisive role of consciousness by criticizing the experiment.
Some of this criticism made sense, such as the notion that the action sequence
in the Libet experiments does not start with the EEG signals in the brain, but
instead before that, with the instruction of the experimenter to flex a finger.
And this instruction is consciously perceived. The dust surrounding the precise
meaning of this experiment has still not completely settled, and recently Soon
and colleagues (Soon, Brass, Heinze, & Haynes, 2008) reported an intriguing
experiment in which they circumvented an important limitation of the Libet
experiment. Participants had to repeatedly make a dichotomous choice (they
were to press one of two buttons) and they could freely choose which one. The
experimenters measured participants brain activity. After the participants
made their simple choice many times, the experimenters could, by looking at
the difference in brain activity for the two different choices in earlier trials,
predict which button a participant was going to press next up to ten seconds
in advanceindeed, long before a participant had consciously decided what
button to press next.
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The Unconscious in Social Psychological Processes

These days, most scientific research on unconscious processes is aimed at
showing that people do not need consciousness for certain psychological
processes or behaviors. One such example is attitude formation. The most basic
process of attitude formation is through mere exposure (Zajonc, 1968). Merely
perceiving a stimulus repeatedly, such as a brand on a billboard one passes
every day or a song that is played on the radio frequently, renders it more
positive. Interestingly, mere exposure does not require conscious awareness
of the object of an attitude. In fact, mere-exposure effects occur even when
novel stimuli are presented subliminally for extremely brief durations (e.g.,
Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980). Intriguingly, in such subliminal mere-exposure
experiments, participants indicate a preference for, or a positive attitude
towards, stimuli they do not consciously remember being exposed to.
Another example of modern research on unconscious processes is research
on priming. In a well-known experiment by a research team led by the American
psychologist John Bargh (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996), half the participants
were primed with the stereotype of the elderly by doing a language task (they
had to make sentences on the basis of lists of words). In these lists, words were
hidden that were associated with the elderly (e.g., old, bingo, walking stick,
Florida). The remaining participants received a language task in which the
critical words were replaced by words not related to the elderly. After
participants had finished they were told the experiment was over, but it was
surreptitiously measured how long it took them to walk to the nearest elevator.
In line with the stereotype of the elderly as slow, primed participants took
significantly longer. That is, they started to behave in line with the stereotype.
Such priming effects have been shown in many different domains. For
example, Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998) demonstrated that priming
can improve intellectual performance. They asked their participants to answer
42 general knowledge questions taken from the game Trivial Pursuit. Under
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normal conditions, participants answered about 50% of the questions correctly.

However, participants primed with the stereotype of professorswho are by
most people seen as intelligentmanaged to answer 60% of the questions
correctly. Conversely, performance of participants primed with the dumb
stereotype of hooligans dropped to 40%.
Holland, Hendriks, and Aarts (2005) examined whether the mere priming
with an odor is capable of changing behavior. They exposed some of their
participants to the scent of all-purpose cleaner without participants conscious
awareness of the presence of this scent (a bucket was hidden in the laboratory).
Because the scent of the cleaner was assumed to prime the concept of cleaning,
the researchers hypothesized that participants exposed to the scent would
spontaneously start to pay more attention to cleanliness. Participants were
requested to eat a very crumbly cookie in the lab, and indeed, participants
exposed to the scent put in more effort to keep their environment clean and
free of crumbs.
Priming techniques are also applied to change peoples behavior in the real
world. Latham and Piccolo (2012) randomly assigned call center employees to
a condition where the employees viewed a photograph of people making
telephone calls in a call center or a photograph of a woman winning a race.
Both photographs led to a significant improvement in job performance
compared to employees in the control condition, who did not see a photograph.
In fact, the people who saw the photograph of people making phone calls raised
85% more money than the people in in the control group.
The research on unconscious processes also greatly improved our
understanding of prejudice. People automatically categorize other people
according to their race, and Patricia Devine (1989) demonstrated that
categorization unconsciously leads to the activation of associated cultural
stereotypes. Importantly, Devine also showed that stereotype activation was
not moderated by peoples level of explicit prejudice. The conclusion of this
work was bleak: We unconsciously activate cultural stereotypes, and this is true
797
for all of us, even for people who are not explicitly prejudiced, or, in other words,
for people who do not want to stereotype.
Unconscious Processing and the Role of Attention

Insight into unconscious processes has also contributed to our ideas about
creativity. Creativity is usually seen as the result of a three-stage process. It
begins with attending to a problem consciously. You think and read about a
problem and discuss matters with others. This stage allows the necessary
information to be gathered and organized, but during this stage a truly creative
idea is rarely produced. The second stage is unconscious; it is the incubation
stage during which people think unconsciously. The problem is put aside for a
while, and conscious attention is directed elsewhere. The process of
unconscious thought sometimes leads to a Eureka experience whereby the
creative product enters consciousness. This third stage is one where conscious
attention again plays a role. The creative product needs to be verbalized and
communicated. For example, a scientific discovery needs detailed proof before
it can be communicated to others.
The idea that people think unconsciously has also been applied to decision
making (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). In a recent set of experiments (Bos,
Dijksterhuis, & van Baaren, 2008), participants were presented with information
about various alternatives (such as cars or roommates) differing in
attractiveness. Subsequently, participants engaged in a distractor task before
they made a decision. That is, they consciously thought about something else;
in this case, they solved anagrams. However, one group was told, prior to the
distractor task, that they would be later asked questions about the decision
problem. A second group was instead told that they were done with the decision
problem and would not be asked anything later on. In other words, the first
group had the goal to further process the information, whereas the second
group had no such goal. Results showed that the first group made better
798
decisions than the latter. Although they did the exact same thing consciously
again, solving anagramsthe first group made better decisions than the
second group because the first thought unconsciously. Recently, researchers
reported neuroscientific evidence for such unconscious thought processes,
indeed showing that recently encoded information is further processed
unconsciously when people have the goal to do so (Creswell, Bursley, & Satpute,
in press).
People are sometimes surprised to learn that we can do so much, and so
many sophisticated things, unconsciously. However, it is important to realize
that there is no one-to-one relation between attention and consciousness (see
e.g., Dijksterhuis & Aarts, 2010). Our behavior is largely guided by goals and
motives, and these goals determine what we pay attention tothat is, how
many resources our brain spends on somethingbut not necessarily what we
become consciously aware of. We can be conscious of things that we hardly
pay attention to (such as fleeting daydreams), and we can be paying a lot of
attention to something we are temporarily unaware of (such as a problem we
want to solve or a big decision we are facing). Part of the confusion arises
because attention and consciousness are correlated. When one pays more
attention to an incoming stimulus, the probability that one becomes consciously
aware of it increases. However, attention and consciousness are distinct. And
to understand why we can do so many things unconsciously, attention is the
key. We need attention, but for quite a number of things, we do not need
conscious awareness.
These days, most researchers agree that the most sensible approach to learn
about unconscious and conscious processes is to consider (higher) cognitive
operations as unconscious, and test what (if anything) consciousness adds
(Dijksterhuis & Aarts 2010; van Gaal, Lamme, Fahrenfort, & Ridderinkhof, 2011;
for an exception, see Newell & Shanks, in press). However, researchers still
widely disagree about the relative importance or contribution of conscious and
unconscious processes. Some theorists maintain the causal role of
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consciousness is limited or virtually nonexistent; others still believe that

consciousness plays a crucial role in almost all human behavior of any
consequence.
Note: The historical overview of the way people thought about the
unconscious is largely based on Koestler (1964).
800
Outside Resources
Book: A wonderful book about how little we know about ourselves: Wilson,
T. D. (2002). Strangers to ourselves. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Book: Another wonderful book about free willor its absence?: Wegner, D.
M. (2002). The illusion of conscious will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Video: An interesting video on attention

http://www.dansimons.com/videos.html
Web: A good overview of priming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)
1. Assess both the strengths and weaknesses of the famous Libet study.
2. Assuming that attention and consciousness are orthogonal, can you name
examples of conscious processes that hardly require attention or of
unconscious processes that require a lot of attention?
3. Do you think some of the priming experiments can also be explained purely
by conscious processes?
4. What do you think could be the main function of consciousness?
5. Some people, scientists included, have a strong aversion to the idea that
human behavior is largely guided by unconscious processes. Do you know
why?
Vocabulary
Cartesian catastrophe
The idea that mental processes taking place outside conscious awareness are
impossible.
Conscious
Having knowledge of something external or internal to oneself; being aware of
and responding to ones surroundings.
Distractor task
A task that is designed to make a person think about something unrelated to
an impending decision.
EEG
(Electroencephalography) The recording of the brains electrical activity over a
period of time by placing electrodes on the scalp.
Eureka experience
When a creative product enters consciousness.
Mere-exposure effects
The result of developing a more positive attitude towards a stimulus after
repeated instances of mere exposure to it.
Priming
The process by which recent experiences increase a traits accessibility.
Unconscious
Not conscious; the part of the mind that affects behavior though it is inaccessible
to the conscious mind.
Reference List
Bargh, J. A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior:
Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action.
Bos, M. W., Dijksterhuis, A. & van Baaren, R. B. (2008). On the goal-dependency
of unconscious thought. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 44, 111420.
Creswell, D., Bursley, J. & Satpute, A. (in press). Neural reactivation links
unconscious thought to decision making performance. Social Cognitive and
Affective Neuroscience.
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled
components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 518.
Dijksterhuis, A., & Aarts, H. (2010). Goals, attention, and (un)consciousness.
Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 467490.
Dijksterhuis, A., & Nordgren, L. F. (2006). A theory of unconscious thought.
Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 95109.
Dijksterhuis, A., & van Knippenberg, A. (1998). The relation between perception
and behavior or how to win a game of Trivial Pursuit. Journal of Personality
Freud, S. (1963). General Psychological Theory. New York: Simon & Schuster.
(Original work published 1915.)
Holland, R. W., Hendriks, M., & Aarts, H. (2005). Smells like clean spirit:
Nonconscious effects of scent on cognition and behavior. Psychological

Science, 16, 689693.
Koestler, A. (1964). The act of creation. London: Penguin.
Kornhuber, H. H., & Deecke, L. (1965). Hirnpotentialanderungen bei
Wilkurbewegungen und passiv Bewegungen des Menschen: Berietschaftpotential
und reafferente Potentiale. Pflugers Archiv fur Gesamte Psychologie, 284,
117.
Kunst-Wilson, W., & Zajonc, R. (1980). Affective discrimination of stimuli that
cannot be recognized. Science, 207, 557558.
Latham, G. P., & Piccolo, R. F. (2012). The effect of context-specific versus
nonspecific subconscious goals on employee performance. Human
Resource Management, 51, 535548.
Libet, B., (1985). Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will
in voluntary action. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8, 52939.
Newell, B. R., & Shanks, D. R. (in press). Unconscious influences on decision
making: A critical review. Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H. J. & Haynes, J. D. (2008). Unconscious
determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience
11, 54345.
Watt, H. J. (1905). Experimentelle Beitrage zur einer Theorie des Denkens. Archiv
fr die Geschichte der Psychologie, 4, 289436.
Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality

van Gaal, S., Lamme, V. A. F., Fahrenfort, J. J., & Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2011).
Dissociable brain mechanisms underlying the conscious and unconscious
control of behavior. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23(1), 91105.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Unconscious by Ap Dijksterhuis is licensed

deed.en_US.

Gregory Murphy
New York University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
People form mental concepts of categories of objects, which permit them to
respond appropriately to new objects they encounter. Most concepts cannot
be strictly defined but are organized around the best examples or prototypes,
which have the properties most common in the category. Objects fall into many
different categories, but there is usually a most salient one, called the basiclevel category, which is at an intermediate level of specificity (e.g., chairs, rather
than furniture or desk chairs). Concepts are closely related to our knowledge
of the world, and people can more easily learn concepts that are consistent
with their knowledge. Theories of concepts argue either that people learn a
summary description of a whole category or else that they learn exemplars of
the category. Recent research suggests that there are different ways to learn
and represent concepts and that they are accomplished by different neural
systems.
Learning Objectives
Understand the problems with attempting to define categories.
Understand typicality and fuzzy category boundaries.
Learn about theories of the mental representation of concepts.
Learn how knowledge may influence concept learning.
Introduction
Consider the following set of objects: some dust, papers, a computer monitor,
two pens, a cup, and an orange. What do these things have in common? Only
that they all happen to be on my desk as I write this. This set of things can be
considered a category, a set of objects that can be treated as equivalent in some
way. But, most of our categories seem much more informativethey share
many properties. For example, consider the following categories: trucks,
wireless devices, weddings, psychopaths, and trout. Although the objects in a
given category are different from one another, they have many commonalities.
When you know something is a truck, you know quite a bit about it. The
psychology of categories concerns how people learn, remember, and use
informative categories such as trucks or psychopaths.
The mental representations we form of categories are called concepts. There
is a category of trucks in the world, and I also have a concept of trucks in my
head. We assume that peoples concepts correspond more or less closely to
the actual category, but it can be useful to distinguish the two, as when
someones concept is not really correct.
Concepts are at the core of intelligent behavior. We expect people to be able
to know what to do in new situations and when confronting new objects. If you
go into a new classroom and see chairs, a blackboard, a projector, and a screen,
you know what these things are and how they will be used. Youll sit on one of
the chairs and expect the instructor to write on the blackboard or project
something onto the screen. You do this even if you have never seen any of these
particular objects before, because you have concepts of classrooms, chairs,
projectors, and so forth, that tell you what they are and what youre supposed
to do with them. Furthermore, if someone tells you a new fact about the
projectorfor example, that it has a halogen bulbyou are likely to extend this
fact to other projectors you encounter. In short, concepts allow you to extend
what you have learned about a limited number of objects to a potentially infinite
nobaproject.com - Categories and Concepts
812
set of entities.
You know thousands of categories, most of which you have learned without
careful study or instruction. Although this accomplishment may seem simple,
we know that it isnt, because it is difficult to program computers to solve such
intellectual tasks. If you teach a learning program that a robin, a swallow, and
a duck are all birds, it may not recognize a cardinal or peacock as a bird. As well
shortly see, the problem is that objects in categories are often surprisingly
diverse.
Simpler organisms, such as animals and human infants, also have concepts
(Mareschal, Quinn, & Lea, 2010). Squirrels may have a concept of predators, for
example, that is specific to their own lives and experiences. However, animals
likely have many fewer concepts and cannot understand complex concepts
such as mortgages or musical instruments.
Nature of Categories
Traditionally, it has been assumed that categories are well defined. This means
that you can give a definition that specifies what is in and out of the category.
Such a definition has two parts. First, it provides the necessary features for
category membership: What must objects have in order to be in it? Second,
those features must be jointly sufficient for membership: If an object has those
features, then it is in the category. For example, if I defined a dog as a fourlegged animal that barks, this would mean that every dog is four-legged, an
animal, and barks, and also that anything that has all those properties is a dog.
Unfortunately, it has not been possible to find definitions for many familiar
categories. Definitions are neat and clear-cut; the world is messy and often
unclear. For example, consider our definition of dogs. In reality, not all dogs
have four legs; not all dogs bark. I knew a dog that lost her bark with age (this
was an improvement); no one doubted that she was still a dog. It is often possible
to find some necessary features (e.g., all dogs have blood and breathe), but
813
these features are generally not sufficient to determine category membership

(you also have blood and breathe but are not a dog).
Even in domains where one might expect to find clear-cut definitions, such
as science and law, there are often problems. For example, many people were
upset when Pluto was downgraded from its status as a planet to a dwarf planet
in 2006. Upset turned to outrage when they discovered that there was no hardand-fast definition of planethood: Arent these astronomers scientists? Cant
they make a simple definition? In fact, they couldnt. After an astronomical
organization tried to make a definition for planets, a number of astronomers
complained that it might not include accepted planets such as Neptune and
refused to use it. If everything looked like our Earth, our moon, and our sun, it
would be easy to give definitions of planets, moons, and stars, but the universe
has sadly not conformed to this ideal.
Fuzzy Categories
Borderline items. Experiments also showed that the psychological assumptions
of well-defined categories were not correct. Hampton (1979) asked subjects to
judge whether a number of items were in different categories. He did not find
that items were either clear members or clear nonmembers. Instead, he found
many items that were just barely considered category members and others
that were just barely not members, with much disagreement among subjects.
Sinks were barely considered as members of the kitchen utensil category, and
sponges were barely excluded. People just included seaweed as a vegetable
and just barely excluded tomatoes and gourds. Hampton found that members
and nonmembers formed a continuum, with no obvious break in peoples
membership judgments. If categories were well defined, such examples should
be very rare. Many studies since then have found such borderline members
that are not clearly in or clearly out of the category.
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McCloskey and Glucksberg (1978) found further evidence for borderline

membership by asking people to judge category membership twice, separated
by two weeks. They found that when people made repeated category judgments
such as Is an olive a fruit? or Is a sponge a kitchen utensil? they changed
their minds about borderline itemsup to 22 percent of the time. So, not only
do people disagree with one another about borderline items, they disagree with
themselves! As a result, researchers often say that categories are fuzzy, that is,
they have unclear boundaries that can shift over time.
Typicality. A related finding that turns out to be most important is that even
among items that clearly are in a category, some seem to be better members
than others (Rosch, 1973). Among birds, for example, robins and sparrows are
very typical. In contrast, ostriches and penguins are very atypical (meaning not
typical). If someone says, Theres a bird in my yard, the image you have will
be of a smallish passerine bird such as a robin, not an eagle or hummingbird
or turkey.
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Table 1. Examples of Two Categories, with Members Ordered by Typicality (from Rosch &
Mervis, 1975)
You can find out which category members are typical merely by asking
people. Table 1 shows a list of category members in order of their rated typicality.
Typicality is perhaps the most important variable in predicting how people
interact with categories. The following text box is a partial list of what typicality
influences.
We can understand the two phenomena of borderline members and
typicality as two sides of the same coin. Think of the most typical category
member: This is often called the category prototype. Items that are less and
less similar to the prototype become less and less typical. At some point, these
less typical items become so atypical that you start to doubt whether they are
in the category at all. Is a rug really an example of furniture? Its in the home
like chairs and tables, but its also different from most furniture in its structure
and use. From day to day, you might change your mind as to whether this
atypical example is in or out of the category. So, changes in typicality ultimately
lead to borderline members.
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Source of Typicality
Intuitively, it is not surprising that robins are better examples of birds than
penguins are, or that a table is a more typical kind of furniture than is a rug.
But given that robins and penguins are known to be birds, why should one be
more typical than the other? One possible answer is the frequency with which
we encounter the object: We see a lot more robins than penguins, so they must
be more typical. Frequency does have some effect, but it is actually not the most
important variable (Rosch, Simpson, & Miller, 1976). For example, I see both
rugs and tables every single day, but one of them is much more typical as
furniture than the other.
817
The best account of what makes something typical comes from Rosch and
Merviss (1975) family resemblance theory. They proposed that items are likely
to be typical if they (a) have the features that are frequent in the category and
(b) do not have features frequent in other categories. Lets compare two
extremes, robins and penguins. Robins are small flying birds that sing, live in
nests in trees, migrate in winter, hop around on your lawn, and so on. Most of
these properties are found in many other birds. In contrast, penguins do not
fly, do not sing, do not live in nests or in trees, do not hop around on your lawn.
Furthermore, they have properties that are common in other categories, such
as swimming expertly and having wings that look and act like fins. These
properties are more often found in fish than in birds.
According to Rosch and Mervis, then, it is not because a robin is a very
common bird that makes it typical. Rather, it is because the robin has the shape,
size, body parts, and behaviors that are very common among birdsand not
common among fish, mammals, bugs, and so forth.
In a classic experiment, Rosch and Mervis (1975) made up two new
categories, with arbitrary features. Subjects viewed example after example and
had to learn which example was in which category. Rosch and Mervis
constructed some items that had features that were common in the category
and other items that had features less common in the category. The subjects
learned the first type of item before they learned the second type. Furthermore,
they then rated the items with common features as more typical. In another
experiment, Rosch and Mervis constructed items that differed in how many
features were shared with a different category. The more features were shared,
the longer it took subjects to learn which category the item was in. These
experiments, and many later studies, support both parts of the family
resemblance theory.
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Category Hierarchies
Many important categories fall into hierarchies, in which more concrete
categories are nested inside larger, abstract categories. For example, consider
the categories: brown bear, bear, mammal, vertebrate, animal, entity. Clearly,
all brown bears are bears; all bears are mammals; all mammals are vertebrates;
and so on. Any given object typically does not fall into just one categoryit
could be in a dozen different categories, some of which are structured in this
hierarchical manner. Examples of biological categories come to mind most
easily, but within the realm of human artifacts, hierarchical structures can
readily be found: desk chair, chair, furniture, artifact, object.
Brown (1958), a child language researcher, was perhaps the first to note that
there seems to be a preference for which category we use to label things. If
your office desk chair is in the way, youll probably say, Move that chair, rather
than Move that desk chair or piece of furniture. Brown thought that the use
of a single, consistent name probably helped children to learn the name for
things. And, indeed, childrens first labels for categories tend to be exactly those
names that adults prefer to use (Anglin, 1977).
819
Figure 1. This is a highly simplified illustration of hierarchically organized categories, with

the superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels labeled. Keep in mind that there may be even
more specific subordinates (e.g., wire-haired terriers) and more general superordinates (e.g.,
living thing).
This preference is referred to as a preference for the basic level of

categorization, and it was first studied in detail by Eleanor Rosch and her
students (Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, & Boyes-Braem, 1976). The basic level
represents a kind of Goldilocks effect, in which the category used for something
is not too small (northern brown bear) and not too big (animal), but is just right
(bear). The simplest way to identify an objects basic-level category is to discover
how it would be labeled in a neutral situation. Rosch et al. (1976) showed
subjects pictures and asked them to provide the first name that came to mind.
They found that 1,595 names were at the basic level, with 14 more specific
names (subordinates) used. Only once did anyone use a more general name
(superordinate). Furthermore, in printed text, basic-level labels are much more
frequent than most subordinate or superordinate labels (e.g., Wisniewski &
Murphy, 1989).
The preference for the basic level is not merely a matter of labeling. Basiclevel categories are usually easier to learn. As Brown noted, children use these
categories first in language learning, and superordinates are especially difficult
for children to fully acquire. People are faster at identifying objects as members
820
of basic-level categories (Rosch et al., 1976).

Rosch et al. (1976) initially proposed that basic-level categories cut the world
at its joints, that is, merely reflect the big differences between categories like
chairs and tables or between cats and mice that exist in the world. However, it
turns out that which level is basic is not universal. North Americans are likely
to use names like tree, fish, and bird to label natural objects. But people in less
industrialized societies seldom use these labels and instead use more specific
words, equivalent to elm, trout, and finch (Berlin, 1992). Because Americans
and many other people living in industrialized societies know so much less than
our ancestors did about the natural world, our basic level has moved up to
what would have been the superordinate level a century ago. Furthermore,
experts in a domain often have a preferred level that is more specific than that
of non-experts. Birdwatchers see sparrows rather than just birds, and
carpenters see roofing hammers rather than just hammers (Tanaka & Taylor,
1991). This all suggests that the preferred level is not (only) based on how
different categories are in the world, but that peoples knowledge and interest
in the categories has an important effect.
One explanation of the basic-level preference is that basic-level categories
are more differentiated: The category members are similar to one another, but
they are different from members of other categories (Murphy & Brownell, 1985;
Rosch et al., 1976). (The alert reader will note a similarity to the explanation of
typicality I gave above. However, here were talking about the entire category
and not individual members.) Chairs are pretty similar to one another, sharing
a lot of features (legs, a seat, a back, similar size and shape); they also dont
share that many features with other furniture. Superordinate categories are
not as useful because their members are not very similar to one another. What
features are common to most furniture? There are very few. Subordinate
categories are not as useful, because theyre very similar to other categories:
Desk chairs are quite similar to dining room chairs and easy chairs. As a result,
it can be difficult to decide which subordinate category an object is in (Murphy
821
& Brownell, 1985). Experts can differ from novices in which categories are the
most differentiated, because they know different things about the categories,
therefore changing how similar the categories are.
Theories of Concept Representation

Now that we know these facts about the psychology of concepts, the question
arises of how concepts are mentally represented. There have been two main
answers. The first, somewhat confusingly called the prototype theory suggests
that people have a summary representation of the category, a mental
description that is meant to apply to the category as a whole. (The significance
of summary will become apparent when the next theory is described.) This
description can be represented as a set of weighted features (Smith & Medin,
1981). The features are weighted by their frequency in the category. For the
category of birds, having wings and feathers would have a very high weight;
eating worms would have a lower weight; living in Antarctica would have a lower
weight still, but not zero, as some birds do live there.
The idea behind prototype theory is that when you learn a category, you
learn a general description that applies to the category as a whole: Birds have
wings and usually fly; some eat worms; some swim underwater to catch fish.
People can state these generalizations, and sometimes we learn about
categories by reading or hearing such statements (The kimodo dragon can
grow to be 10 feet long).
When you try to classify an item, you see how well it matches that weighted
list of features. For example, if you saw something with wings and feathers fly
onto your front lawn and eat a worm, you could (unconsciously) consult your
concepts and see which ones contained the features you observed. This
example possesses many of the highly weighted bird features, and so it should
be easy to identify as a bird.
822
This theory readily explains the phenomena we discussed earlier. Typical

category members have more, higher-weighted features. Therefore, it is easier
to match them to your conceptual representation. Less typical items have fewer
or lower-weighted features (and they may have features of other concepts).
Therefore, they dont match your representation as well. This makes people
less certain in classifying such items. Borderline items may have features in
common with multiple categories or not be very close to any of them. For
example, edible seaweed does not have many of the common features of
vegetables but also is not close to any other food concept (meat, fish, fruit, etc.),
making it hard to know what kind of food it is.
A very different account of concept representation is the exemplar theory
(exemplar being a fancy name for an example; Medin & Schaffer, 1978). This
theory denies that there is a summary representation. Instead, the theory claims
that your concept of vegetables is remembered examples of vegetables you
have seen. This could of course be hundreds or thousands of exemplars over
the course of your life, though we dont know for sure how many exemplars
you actually remember.
How does this theory explain classification? When you see an object, you
(unconsciously) compare it to the exemplars in your memory, and you judge
how similar it is to exemplars in different categories. For example, if you see
some object on your plate and want to identify it, it will probably activate
memories of vegetables, meats, fruit, and so on. In order to categorize this
object, you calculate how similar it is to each exemplar in your memory. These
similarity scores are added up for each category. Perhaps the object is very
similar to a large number of vegetable exemplars, moderately similar to a few
fruit, and only minimally similar to some exemplars of meat you remember.
These similarity scores are compared, and the category with the highest score
is chosen.
823
Why would someone propose such a theory of concepts? One answer is that
in many experiments studying concepts, people learn concepts by seeing
exemplars over and over again until they learn to classify them correctly. Under
such conditions, it seems likely that people eventually memorize the exemplars
(Smith & Minda, 1998). There is also evidence that close similarity to wellremembered objects has a large effect on classification. Allen and Brooks (1991)
taught people to classify items by following a rule. However, they also had their
subjects study the items, which were richly detailed. In a later test, the
experimenters gave people new items that were very similar to one of the old
items but were in a different category. That is, they changed one property so
that the item no longer followed the rule. They discovered that people were
often fooled by such items. Rather than following the category rule they had
been taught, they seemed to recognize the new item as being very similar to
an old one and so put it, incorrectly, into the same category.
Many experiments have been done to compare the prototype and exemplar
theories. Overall, the exemplar theory seems to have won most of these
comparisons. However, the experiments are somewhat limited in that they
usually involve a small number of exemplars that people view over and over
again. It is not so clear that exemplar theory can explain real-world classification
in which people do not spend much time learning individual items (how much
time do you spend studying squirrels? or chairs?). Also, given that some part of
our knowledge of categories is learned through general statements we read or
hear, it seems that there must be room for a summary description separate
from exemplar memory.
Many researchers would now acknowledge that concepts are represented
through multiple cognitive systems. For example, your knowledge of dogs may
be in part through general descriptions such as dogs have four legs. But you
probably also have strong memories of some exemplars (your family dog,
Lassie) that influence your categorization. Furthermore, some categories also
involve rules (e.g., a strike in baseball). How these systems work together is the
824
subject of current study.
Knowledge
The final topic has to do with how concepts fit with our broader knowledge of
the world. We have been talking very generally about people learning the
features of concepts. For example, they see a number of birds and then learn
that birds generally have wings, or perhaps they remember bird exemplars.
From this perspective, it makes no difference what those exemplars or features
arepeople just learn them. But consider two possible concepts of buildings
and their features in Table 2.
Table 2. Examples of Two Fictional Concepts
Imagine you had to learn these two concepts by seeing exemplars of them,
each exemplar having some of the features listed for the concept (as well as
some idiosyncratic features). Learning the donker concept would be pretty easy.
It seems to be a kind of underwater building, perhaps for deep-sea explorers.
Its features seem to go together. In contrast, the blegdav doesnt really make
sense. If its in the desert, how can you get there by submarine, and why do
they have polar bears as pets? Why would farmers live in the desert or use
825
submarines? What good would steel windows do in such a building? This

concept seems peculiar. In fact, if people are asked to learn new concepts that
make sense, such as donkers, they learn them quite a bit faster than concepts
such as blegdavs that dont make sense (Murphy & Allopenna, 1994).
Furthermore, the features that seem connected to one another (such as being
underwater and getting there by submarine) are learned better than features
that dont seem related to the others (such as being red).
Such effects demonstrate that when we learn new concepts, we try to
connect them to the knowledge we already have about the world. If you were
to learn about a new animal that doesnt seem to eat or reproduce, you would
be very puzzled and think that you must have gotten something wrong. By
themselves, the prototype and exemplar theories dont predict this. They simply
say that you learn descriptions or exemplars, and they dont put any constraints
on what those descriptions or exemplars are. However, the knowledge
approach to concepts emphasizes that concepts are meant to tell us about real
things in the world, and so our knowledge of the world is used in learning and
thinking about concepts.
We can see this effect of knowledge when we learn about new pieces of
technology. For example, most people could easily learn about tablet computers
(such as iPads) when they were first introduced by drawing on their knowledge
of laptops, cell phones, and related technology. Of course, this reliance on past
knowledge can also lead to errors, as when people dont learn about features
of their new tablet that werent present in their cell phone or expect the tablet
to be able to do something it cant.
One important aspect of peoples knowledge about categories is called
psychological essentialism (Gelman, 2003; Medin & Ortony, 1989). People tend
to believe that some categoriesmost notably natural kinds such as animals,
plants, or mineralshave an underlying property that is found only in that
category and that causes its other features. Most categories dont actually have
essences, but this is sometimes a firmly held belief. For example, many people
826
will state that there is something about dogs, perhaps some specific gene or
set of genes, that all dogs have and that makes them bark, have fur, and look
the way they do. Therefore, decisions about whether something is a dog do not
depend only on features that you can easily see but also on the assumed
presence of this cause.
Belief in an essence can be revealed through experiments describing
fictional objects. Keil (1989) described to adults and children a fiendish
operation in which someone took a raccoon, dyed its hair black with a white
stripe down the middle, and implanted a sac of super-smelly yucky stuff under
its tail. The subjects were shown a picture of a skunk and told that this is now
what the animal looks like. What is it? Adults and children over the age of 4 all
agreed that the animal is still a raccoon. It may look and even act like a skunk,
but a raccoon cannot change its stripes (or whatever!)it will always be a
raccoon.
Importantly, the same effect was not found when Keil described a coffeepot
that was operated on to look like and function as a birdfeeder. Subjects agreed
that it was now a birdfeeder. Artifacts dont have an essence.
Signs of essentialism include (a) objects are believed to be either in or out
of the category, with no in-between; (b) resistance to change of category
membership or of properties connected to the essence; and (c) for living things,
the essence is passed on to progeny.
Essentialism is probably helpful in dealing with much of the natural world,
but it may be less helpful when it is applied to humans. Considerable evidence
suggests that people think of gender, racial, and ethnic groups as having
essences, which serves to emphasize the difference between groups and even
justify discrimination (Hirschfeld, 1996). Historically, group differences were
described by inheriting the blood of ones family or group. Bad blood was not
just an expression but a belief that negative properties were inherited and could
not be changed. After all, if it is in the nature of those people to be dishonest
(or clannish or athletic ...), then that could hardly be changed, any more than a
827
raccoon can change into a skunk.

Research on categories of people is an exciting ongoing enterprise, and we
still do not know as much as we would like to about how concepts of different
kinds of people are learned in childhood and how they may (or may not) change
in adulthood. Essentialism doesnt apply only to person categories, but it is one
important factor in how we think of groups.
Conclusion
Concepts are central to our everyday thought. When we are planning for the
future or thinking about our past, we think about specific events and objects
in terms of their categories. If youre visiting a friend with a new baby, you have
some expectations about what the baby will do, what gifts would be appropriate,
how you should behave toward it, and so on. Knowing about the category of
babies helps you to effectively plan and behave when you encounter this child
youve never seen before.
Learning about those categories is a complex process that involves seeing
exemplars (babies), hearing or reading general descriptions (Babies like blackand-white pictures), general knowledge (babies have kidneys), and learning
the occasional rule (all babies have a rooting reflex). Current research is focusing
on how these different processes take place in the brain. It seems likely that
these different aspects of concepts are accomplished by different neural
structures (Maddox & Ashby, 2004).
Another interesting topic is how concepts differ across cultures. As different
cultures have different interests and different kinds of interactions with the
world, it seems clear that their concepts will somehow reflect those differences.
On the other hand, the structure of categories in the world also imposes a
strong constraint on what kinds of categories are actually useful. Some
researchers have suggested that differences between Eastern and Western
modes of thought have led to qualitatively different kinds of concepts (e.g.,
828
Norenzayan, Smith, Kim, & Nisbett, 2002). Although such differences are
intriguing, we should also remember that different cultures seem to share
common categories such as chairs, dogs, parties, and jars, so the differences
may not be as great as suggested by experiments designed to detect cultural
effects. The interplay of culture, the environment, and basic cognitive processes
in establishing concepts has yet to be fully investigated.
829
Outside Resources
Debate: The debate about Pluto and the definition of planet is an interesting
one, as it illustrates the difficulty of arriving at definitions even in science.
The Planetary Science Institutes website has a series of press releases about
the Pluto debate, including reactions from astronomers, while it happened.
http://www.psi.edu
Image Search: It can be interesting to get a pictorial summary of how much

diversity there is among category members. If you do an image search for
familiar categories such as houses, dogs, weddings, telephones, fruit, or
whatever, you can get a visual display on a single page of the category
structure. Of course, the results are probably biased, as people do not just
randomly upload pictures of dogs or fruit, but it nonetheless will likely reveal
the typicality structure, as most of the pictures will be of typical exemplars,
and the atypical ones will stand out. (This activity will also demonstrate the
phenomenon of ambiguity in language, as a search for house will yield
some pictures of the TV character House, M.D. However, that is a lesson for
a different chapter.)
https://www.google.com/
Self-test: If you would like to run your own category-learning experiment,

you can do so by following the link below. It works either in-browser or by
download. When downloaded, users can put in their own stimuli to
categorize.
http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/CogSciSoftware/Categorization/index.html
Web: An interesting article at Space.com argues (I believe correctly) that the

term planet will not and should not be defined.
http://www.space.com/3142-planets-defined.html
Web: Most familiar categories have simple labels such as planet or dog.
However, more complex categories can be made up for a particular purpose.
Barsalou (1983) studied categories such as things to carry out of a burning
house or ways to avoid being killed by the Mob. Interestingly, someone has
published a book consisting of peoples photographs of things they would
carry out of a burning house, and there is also a website showing such
collections. Try to analyze what is common to the category members. What
is the categorys prototype?
http://theburninghouse.com/
1. Pick a couple of familiar categories and try to come up with definitions for
them. When you evaluate each proposal (a) is it in fact accurate as a
definition, and( b) is it a definition that people might actually use in
identifying category members?
2. For the same categories, can you identify members that seem to be better
and worse members? What about these items makes them typical and
atypical?
3. Going around the room, point to some common objects (including things
people are wearing or brought with them) and identify what the basic-level
category is for that item. What are superordinate and subordinate
categories for the same items?
4. List some features of a common category such as tables. The knowledge
view suggests that you know reasons for why these particular features occur
together. Can you articulate some of those reasons? Do the same thing for
an animal category.
5. Choose three common categories: a natural kind, a human artifact, and a
social event. Discuss with class members from other countries or cultures
whether the corresponding categories in their cultures differ. Can you make
a hypothesis about when such categories are likely to differ and when they
are not?
Vocabulary
Basic-level category
The neutral, preferred category for a given object, at an intermediate level of
specificity.
Category
A set of entities that are equivalent in some way. Usually the items are similar
to one another.
Concept
The mental representation of a category.
Exemplar
An example in memory that is labeled as being in a particular category.
Psychological essentialism
The belief that members of a category have an unseen property that causes
them to be in the category and to have the properties associated with it.
Typicality
The difference in goodness of category members, ranging from the most
typical (the prototype) to borderline members.
Reference List
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Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 120, 319.
Anglin, J. M. (1977). Word, object, and conceptual development. New York, NY:
W. W. Norton.
Berlin, B. (1992). Ethnobiological classification: Principles of categorization of
plants and animals in traditional societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Brown, R. (1958). How shall a thing be called? Psychological Review, 65, 1421.
Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child: Origins of essentialism in everyday
thought. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hampton, J. A. (1979). Polymorphous concepts in semantic memory. Journal of
Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 441461.
Hirschfeld, L. A. (1996). Race in the making: Cognition, culture, and the child's
construction of human kinds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Horton, M. S., & Markman, E. M. (1980). Developmental differences in the
acquisition of basic and superordinate categories. Child Development, 51,
708719.
Keil, F. C. (1989). Concepts, kinds, and cognitive development. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Maddox, W. T., & Ashby, F. G. (2004). Dissociating explicit and procedural-based

systems of perceptual category learning. Behavioural Processes, 66, 309
332.
Mandler, J. M. (2004). The foundations of mind: Origins of conceptual thought.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Mareschal, D., Quinn, P. C., & Lea, S. E. G. (Eds.) (2010). The making of human
concepts. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
McCloskey, M. E., & Glucksberg, S. (1978). Natural categories: Well defined or
fuzzy sets? Memory & Cognition, 6, 462472.
Medin, D. L., & Ortony, A. (1989). Psychological essentialism. In S. Vosniadou &
A. Ortony (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 179195).
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Medin, D. L., & Schaffer, M. M. (1978). Context theory of classification learning.
Mervis, C. B. (1987). Child-basic object categories and early lexical development.
In U. Neisser (Ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: Ecological and
intellectual factors in categorization (pp. 201233). Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Murphy, G. L., & Allopenna, P. D. (1994). The locus of knowledge effects in
concept learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
and Cognition, 20, 904919.
Murphy, G. L., & Brownell, H. H. (1985). Category differentiation in object
recognition: Typicality constraints on the basic category advantage. Journal

of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 11, 7084.
Norenzayan, A., Smith, E. E., Kim, B. J., & Nisbett, R. E. (2002). Cultural preferences
for formal versus intuitive reasoning. Cognitive Science, 26, 653684.
Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W., Johnson, D., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic
objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 382439.
Rosch, E., Simpson, C., & Miller, R. S. (1976). Structural bases of typicality effects.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
2, 491502.
Rosch, E., & Mervis, C. B. (1975). Family resemblance: Studies in the internal
structure of categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573605.
Rosch, E. H. (1973). On the internal structure of perceptual and semantic
categories. In T. E. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition
of language (pp. 111144). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Smith, E. E., & Medin, D. L. (1981). Categories and concepts. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Smith, J. D., & Minda, J. P. (1998). Prototypes in the mist: The early epochs of
category learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
Tanaka, J. W., & Taylor, M. E. (1991). Object categories and expertise: Is the basic
level in the eye of the beholder? Cognitive Psychology, 15, 121149.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Categories and Concepts by Gregory Murphy is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Judgement and Decision

Making
Max H. Bazerman
Harvard University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Humans are not perfect decision makers. Not only are we not perfect, but we
depart from perfection or rationality in systematic and predictable ways. The
understanding of these systematic and predictable departures is core to the
field of judgment and decision making. By understanding these limitations, we
can also identify strategies for making better and more effective decisions.
Learning Objectives
Understand the systematic biases that affect our judgment and decision
making.
Develop strategies for making better decisions.
Experience some of the biases through sample decisions.
Introduction
In his Nobel Prizewinning work, psychologist Herbert Simon (1957; March &
Simon, 1958) argued that our decisions are bounded in their rationality.
According to the bounded rationality framework, human beings try to make
rational decisions, but our cognitive limitations prevent us from being fully
rational. Time and cost constraints limit the quantity and quality of the
information that is available to us. Moreover, we only retain a relatively small
amount of information in our usable memory. And limitations on intelligence
and perceptions constrain the ability of even very bright decision makers to
accurately make the best choice based on the information that is available.
About 15 years after the publication of Simons seminal work, Tversky and
Kahneman (1973, 1974; Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) produced their own Nobel
Prizewinning research, which provided critical information about specific
systematic and predictable biases, or mistakes, that influence judgment
(Kahneman received the prize after Tverskys death). The work of Simon,
Tversky, and Kahneman paved the way to our modern understanding of
judgment and decision making. And their two Nobel prizes signaled the broad
acceptance of the field of behavioral decision research as a mature area of
intellectual study.
What Would a Rational Decision Look Like?

Imagine that during your senior year in college, you apply to a number of
doctoral programs, law schools, or business schools (or another set of programs
in whatever field most interests you). The good news is that you receive many
acceptance letters. So, how should you decide where to go? Bazerman and
Moore (2013) outline the following six steps that you should take to make a
rational decision: (1) define the problem (i.e., selecting the right graduate
program), (2) identify the criteria necessary to judge the multiple options
nobaproject.com - Judgement and Decision Making
842
(location, prestige, faculty, etc.), (3) weight the criteria (rank them in terms of
importance to you), (4) generate alternatives (the schools that admitted you),
(5) rate each alternative on each criterion (rate each school on each criteria that
you identified, and (6) compute the optimal decision. Acting rationally would
require that you follow these six steps in a fully rational manner.
I strongly advise people to think through important decisions such as this
in a manner similar to this process. Unfortunately, we often dont. Many of us
rely on our intuitions far more than we should. And when we do try to think
systematically, the way we enter data into such formal decision-making
processes is often biased.
Fortunately, psychologists have learned a great deal about the biases that
affect our thinking. This knowledge about the systematic and predictable
mistakes that even the best and the brightest make can help you identify flaws
in your thought processes and reach better decisions.
Biases in Our Decision Process

Simons concept of bounded rationality taught us that judgment deviates from
rationality, but it did not tell us how judgment is biased. Tversky and Kahnemans
(1974) research helped to diagnose the specific systematic, directional biases
that affect human judgment. These biases are created by the tendency to shortcircuit a rational decision process by relying on a number of simplifying
strategies, or rules of thumb, known as heuristics. Heuristics allow us to cope
with the complex environment surrounding our decisions. Unfortunately, they
also lead to systematic and predictable biases.
843
Before continuing, please answer the following three quiz items:

Problem 1 (adapted from Alpert & Raiffa, 1969):
Listed below are 10 uncertain quantities. Do not look up any information
on these items. For each, write down your best estimate of the quantity. Next,
put a lower and upper bound around your estimate, such that you are 98 percent
confident that your range surrounds the actual quantity. Respond to each of
these items even if you admit to knowing very little about these quantities.
1. Year that Harvard University was founded
2. Value of Yale Universitys endowment as of 2011
3. Number of acres housing the University of Texas at Austin (as of 2013)
4. Nobel prizes won by University of California, Berkeleys faculty, alumni, and
researchers (as of 2013)
5. Number of undergraduates at Northwestern University (as of 20122013)
6. Pulitzer prizes won by faculty and alumni of Boston University (as of 2013)
7. 20122013 annual budget for the University of Pennsylvania
8. Number of academic staff members at Carnegie Mellon University (as of
2013)
9. Number of postgraduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (as of 2013)
10. Number of colleges and universities in the Boston metropolitan area
844
Problem 2 (adapted from Joyce & Biddle, 1981):

We know that executive fraud occurs and that it has been associated with
many recent financial scandals. And, we know that many cases of management
fraud go undetected even when annual audits are performed. Do you think that
the incidence of significant executive-level management fraud is more than 10
in 1,000 firms (that is, 1 percent) audited by Big Four accounting firms?
1. Yes, more than 10 in 1,000 Big Four clients have significant executive-level
management fraud.
2. No, fewer than 10 in 1,000 Big Four clients have significant executive-level
management fraud.
What is your estimate of the number of Big Four clients per 1,000 that have
significant executive-level management fraud? (Fill in the blank below with the
appropriate number.)
________
in 1,000 Big Four clients have significant executive-level
management fraud.
Problem 3 (adapted from Tversky & Kahneman, 1981):
Imagine that the United States is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual
Asian disease that is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to
combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific
estimates of the consequences of the programs are as follows.
1. Program A: If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved.
2. Program B: If Program B is adopted, there is a one-third probability that 600
people will be saved and a two-thirds probability that no people will be
saved.
845
Which of the two programs would you favor?
Overconfidence
On the first problem, if you set your ranges so that you were justifiably 98
percent confident, you should expect that approximately 9.8, or nine to 10, of
your ranges would include the actual value. So, lets look at the correct answers:
1. 1,636
2. $19.4 billion
3. 1,438.5
4. 71
5. 8,425
6. 22
7. $6.007 billion
8. 1,423
9. 6,510
10. 52
846
Count the number of your 98% ranges that actually surrounded the true
quantities. If you surrounded nine to 10, you were appropriately confident in
your judgments. But most readers surround only between three (30%) and
seven (70%) of the correct answers, despite claiming 98% confidence that each
range would surround the true value. As this problem shows, humans tend to
be overconfident in their judgments.
Anchoring
Regarding the second problem, people vary a great deal in their final
assessment of the level of executive-level management fraud, but most think
that 10 out of 1,000 is too low. When I run this exercise in class, half of the
students respond to the question that I asked you to answer. The other half
receive a similar problem, but instead are asked whether the correct answer is
higher or lower than 200 rather than 10. Most people think that 200 is high.
But, again, most people claim that this anchor does not affect their final
estimate. Yet, on average, people who are presented with the question that
focuses on the number 10 (out of 1,000) give answers that are about one-half
the size of the estimates of those facing questions that use an anchor of 200.
When we are making decisions, any initial anchor that we face is likely to
influence our judgments, even if the anchor is arbitrary. That is, we insufficiently
adjust our judgments away from the anchor.
Framing
Turning to Problem 3, most people choose Program A, which saves 200 lives
for sure, over Program B. But, again, if I was in front of a classroom, only half
of my students would receive this problem. The other half would have received
the same set-up, but with the following two options:
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1. Program C: If Program C is adopted, 400 people will die.

2. Program D: If Program D is adopted, there is a one-third probability that no
one will die and a two-thirds probability that 600 people will die.
Which of the two programs would you favor?

Careful review of the two versions of this problem clarifies that they are
objectively the same. Saving 200 people (Program A) means losing 400 people
(Program C), and Programs B and D are also objectively identical. Yet, in one of
the most famous problems in judgment and decision making, most individuals
choose Program A in the first set and Program D in the second set (Tversky &
Kahneman, 1981). People respond very differently to saving versus losing lives
even when the difference is based just on the framing of the choices.
The problem that I asked you to respond to was framed in terms of saving
lives, and the implied reference point was the worst outcome of 600 deaths.
Most of us, when we make decisions that concern gains, are risk averse; as a
consequence, we lock in the possibility of saving 200 lives for sure. In the
alternative version, the problem is framed in terms of losses. Now the implicit
reference point is the best outcome of no deaths due to the Asian disease. And
in this case, most people are risk seeking when making decisions regarding
losses.
These are just three of the many biases that affect even the smartest among
us. Other research shows that we are biased in favor of information that is easy
for our minds to retrieve, are insensitive to the importance of base rates and
sample sizes when we are making inferences, assume that random events will
always look random, search for information that confirms our expectations
even when disconfirming information would be more informative, claim a priori
knowledge that didnt exist due to the hindsight bias, and are subject to a host
of other effects that continue to be developed in the literature (Bazerman &
848
Moore, 2013).
Contemporary Developments
Bounded rationality served as the integrating concept of the field of behavioral
decision research for 40 years. Then, in 2000, Thaler (2000) suggested that
decision making is bounded in two ways not precisely captured by the concept
of bounded rationality. First, he argued that our willpower is bounded and that,
as a consequence, we give greater weight to present concerns than to future
concerns. Our immediate motivations are often inconsistent with our long-term
interests in a variety of ways, such as the common failure to save adequately
for retirement or the difficulty many people have staying on a diet. Second,
Thaler suggested that our self-interest is bounded such that we care about the
outcomes of others. Sometimes we positively value the outcomes of others
giving them more of a commodity than is necessary out of a desire to be fair,
for example. And, in unfortunate contexts, we sometimes are willing to forgo
our own benefits out of a desire to harm others.
My colleagues and I have recently added two other important bounds to
the list. Chugh, Banaji, and Bazerman (2005) and Banaji and Bhaskar (2000)
introduced the concept of bounded ethicality, which refers to the notion that
our ethics are limited in ways we are not even aware of ourselves. Second,
Chugh and Bazerman (2007) developed the concept of bounded awareness to
refer to the broad array of focusing failures that affect our judgment, specifically
the many ways in which we fail to notice obvious and important information
that is available to us.
A final development is the application of judgment and decision-making
research to the areas of behavioral economics, behavioral finance, and
behavioral marketing, among others. In each case, these fields have been
transformed by applying and extending research from the judgment and
decision-making literature.
849
Fixing Our Decisions

Ample evidence documents that even smart people are routinely impaired by
biases. Early research demonstrated, unfortunately, that awareness of these
problems does little to reduce bias (Fischhoff, 1982). The good news is that
more recent research documents interventions that do help us overcome our
faulty thinking (Bazerman & Moore, 2013).
One critical path to fixing our biases is provided in Stanovich and Wests
(2000) distinction between System 1 and System 2 decision making. System 1
processing is our intuitive system, which is typically fast, automatic, effortless,
implicit, and emotional. System 2 refers to decision making that is slower,
conscious, effortful, explicit, and logical. The six logical steps of decision making
outlined earlier describe a System 2 process.
Clearly, a complete System 2 process is not required for every decision we
make. In most situations, our System 1 thinking is quite sufficient; it would be
impractical, for example, to logically reason through every choice we make while
shopping for groceries. But, preferably, System 2 logic should influence our
most important decisions. Nonetheless, we use our System 1 processes for
most decisions in life, relying on it even when making important decisions.
The key to reducing the effects of bias and improving our decisions is to
transition from trusting our intuitive System 1 thinking toward engaging more
in deliberative System 2 thought. Unfortunately, the busier and more rushed
people are, the more they have on their minds, and the more likely they are to
rely on System 1 thinking (Chugh, 2004). The frantic pace of professional life
suggests that executives often rely on System 1 thinking (Chugh, 2004).
Fortunately, it is possible to identify conditions where we rely on intuition
at our peril and substitute more deliberative thought. One fascinating example
of this substitution comes from journalist Michael Lewis (2003) account of how
Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, improved the
outcomes of the failing baseball team after recognizing that the intuition of
850
baseball executives was limited and systematically biased and that their
intuitions had been incorporated into important decisions in ways that created
enormous mistakes. Lewis (2003) documents that baseball professionals tend
to overgeneralize from their personal experiences, be overly influenced by
players very recent performances, and overweigh what they see with their own
eyes, despite the fact that players multiyear records provide far better data. By
substituting valid predictors of future performance (System 2 thinking), the
Athletics were able to outperform expectations given their very limited payroll.
Another important direction for improving decisions comes from Thaler and
Sunsteins (2008) book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and
Happiness. Rather than setting out to debias human judgment, Thaler and
Sunstein outline a strategy for how decision architects can change
environments in ways that account for human bias and trigger better decisions
as a result. For example, Beshears, Choi, Laibson, and Madrian (2008) have
shown that simple changes to defaults can dramatically improve peoples
decisions. They tackle the failure of many people to save for retirement and
show that a simple change can significantly influence enrollment in 401(k)
programs. In most companies, when you start your job, you need to proactively
sign up to join the companys retirement savings plan. Many people take years
before getting around to doing so. When, instead, companies automatically
enroll their employees in 401(k) programs and give them the opportunity to
opt out, the net enrollment rate rises significantly. By changing defaults, we
can counteract the human tendency to live with the status quo.
Similarly, Johnson and Goldsteins (2003) cross-European organ donation
study reveals that countries that have opt-in organ donation policies, where
the default is not to harvest peoples organs without their prior consent, sacrifice
thousands of lives in comparison to opt-out policies, where the default is to
harvest organs. The United States and too many other countries require that
citizens opt in to organ donation through a proactive effort; as a consequence,
consent rates range between 4.25%44% across these countries. In contrast,
851
changing the decision architecture to an opt-out policy improves consent rates

to 85.9% to 99.98%. Designing the donation system with knowledge of the
power of defaults can dramatically change donation rates without changing the
options available to citizens. In contrast, a more intuitive strategy, such as the
one in place in the United States, inspires defaults that result in many
unnecessary deaths.
Simon, Kahneman, and Tversky created a field that highlights the surprising
and predictable deficiencies of the human mind. Only now have we reached
the frontier of using this knowledge to help people make better decisions.
852
Outside Resources
Book: Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. (2013). Judgment in managerial decision
making (8th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Book: Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York, NY: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux.
Book: Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about
Health,
Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
1. Are the biases in this chapter a problem in the real world?
2. How would you use this chapter to be a better decision maker?
3. Can you see any biases in todays newspaper?
Vocabulary
Anchoring
The bias to be affected by an initial anchor, even if the anchor is arbitrary, and
to insufficiently adjust our judgments away from that anchor.
Biases
The systematic and predictable mistakes that influence the judgment of even
very talented human beings.
Bounded awareness
The systematic ways in which we fail to notice obvious and important
information that is available to us.
Bounded ethicality
The systematic ways in which our ethics are limited in ways we are not even
aware of ourselves.
Bounded rationality
Model of human behavior that suggests that humans try to make rational
decisions but are bounded due to cognitive limitations.
Bounded self-interest
The systematic and predictable ways in which we care about the outcomes of
others.
Bounded willpower
The tendency to place greater weight on present concerns rather than future
concerns.
Framing
The bias to be systematically affected by the way in which information is
presented, while holding the objective information constant.
Overconfident
The bias to have greater confidence in your judgment than is warranted based
on a rational assessment.
System 1
Our intuitive decision-making system, which is typically fast, automatic,
effortless, implicit, and emotional.
System 2
Our more deliberative decision-making system, which is slower, conscious,
effortful, explicit, and logical.
Reference List
Alpert, M., & Raiffa, H. (1969). A progress report on the training of probability
assessors. Unpublished Report.
Banaji, M. R., & Bhaskar, R. (2000). Implicit stereotypes and memory: The
bounded rationality of social beliefs. In D. L. Schacter & E. Scarry (Eds.),
Memory, brain, and belief (pp. 139175). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. (2013). Judgment in managerial decision making
(8th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Beshears, J., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., & Madrian, B. C. (2008). The importance of
default options for retirement saving outcomes: Evidence from the United
States. In S. J. Kay & T. Sinha (Eds.), Lessons from pension reform in the
Americas (pp. 5987). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chugh, D. (2004). Societal and managerial implications of implicit social
cognition: Why milliseconds matter. Social Justice Research, 17(2), 203222.
Chugh, D., Banaji, M. R., & Bazerman, M. H. (2005). Bounded ethicality as a
psychological barrier to recognizing conflicts of interest. In D. Moore, D. M.
Cain, G. Loewenstein, & M. H. Bazerman (Eds.), Conflicts of Interest (pp. 74
95). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Chugh, D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2007). Bounded awareness: What you fail to see
can hurt you. Mind & Society, 6(1), 118.
Fischhoff, B. (1982). Debiasing. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, & A. Tversky (Eds.),
Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 422444). New York,
NY: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, E. J., & Goldstein, D. (2003). Do defaults save lives? Science 302(5649),
13381339.
Joyce, E. J., & Biddle, G. C. (1981). Are auditors judgments sufficiently regressive?
Journal of Accounting Research, 19(2), 323349.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision
under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263292.
Lewis, M. (2003). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.
March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. Oxford: Wiley.
Simon, H. A. (1957). Models of man, social and rational: Mathematical essays
on rational human behavior in a social setting. New York, NY: John Wiley &
Sons.
Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000). Individual differences in reasoning:
Implications for the rationality debate? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23,
645726.
Thaler, R. H. (2000). From homo economicus to homo sapiens. Journal of
Economics Perspectives, 14, 133141.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health,
wealth, and happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology
of choice. Science, New Series, 211(4481), 453458.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and
biases. Science, New Series, 185(4157), 11241131.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency
and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5(2), 207232.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Judgement and Decision Making by Max H.
Bazerman is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_US.

Gregory Murphy
New York University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
People form mental concepts of categories of objects, which permit them to
respond appropriately to new objects they encounter. Most concepts cannot
be strictly defined but are organized around the best examples or prototypes,
which have the properties most common in the category. Objects fall into many
different categories, but there is usually a most salient one, called the basiclevel category, which is at an intermediate level of specificity (e.g., chairs, rather
than furniture or desk chairs). Concepts are closely related to our knowledge
of the world, and people can more easily learn concepts that are consistent
with their knowledge. Theories of concepts argue either that people learn a
summary description of a whole category or else that they learn exemplars of
the category. Recent research suggests that there are different ways to learn
and represent concepts and that they are accomplished by different neural
systems.
Learning Objectives
Understand the problems with attempting to define categories.
Understand typicality and fuzzy category boundaries.
Learn about theories of the mental representation of concepts.
Learn how knowledge may influence concept learning.
Introduction
Consider the following set of objects: some dust, papers, a computer monitor,
two pens, a cup, and an orange. What do these things have in common? Only
that they all happen to be on my desk as I write this. This set of things can be
considered a category, a set of objects that can be treated as equivalent in some
way. But, most of our categories seem much more informativethey share
many properties. For example, consider the following categories: trucks,
wireless devices, weddings, psychopaths, and trout. Although the objects in a
given category are different from one another, they have many commonalities.
When you know something is a truck, you know quite a bit about it. The
psychology of categories concerns how people learn, remember, and use
informative categories such as trucks or psychopaths.
The mental representations we form of categories are called concepts. There
is a category of trucks in the world, and I also have a concept of trucks in my
head. We assume that peoples concepts correspond more or less closely to
the actual category, but it can be useful to distinguish the two, as when
someones concept is not really correct.
Concepts are at the core of intelligent behavior. We expect people to be able
to know what to do in new situations and when confronting new objects. If you
go into a new classroom and see chairs, a blackboard, a projector, and a screen,
you know what these things are and how they will be used. Youll sit on one of
the chairs and expect the instructor to write on the blackboard or project
something onto the screen. You do this even if you have never seen any of these
particular objects before, because you have concepts of classrooms, chairs,
projectors, and so forth, that tell you what they are and what youre supposed
to do with them. Furthermore, if someone tells you a new fact about the
projectorfor example, that it has a halogen bulbyou are likely to extend this
fact to other projectors you encounter. In short, concepts allow you to extend
what you have learned about a limited number of objects to a potentially infinite
864
set of entities.
You know thousands of categories, most of which you have learned without
careful study or instruction. Although this accomplishment may seem simple,
we know that it isnt, because it is difficult to program computers to solve such
intellectual tasks. If you teach a learning program that a robin, a swallow, and
a duck are all birds, it may not recognize a cardinal or peacock as a bird. As well
shortly see, the problem is that objects in categories are often surprisingly
diverse.
Simpler organisms, such as animals and human infants, also have concepts
(Mareschal, Quinn, & Lea, 2010). Squirrels may have a concept of predators, for
example, that is specific to their own lives and experiences. However, animals
likely have many fewer concepts and cannot understand complex concepts
such as mortgages or musical instruments.
Nature of Categories
Traditionally, it has been assumed that categories are well-defined. This means
that you can give a definition that specifies what is in and out of the category.
Such a definition has two parts. First, it provides the necessary features for
category membership: What must objects have in order to be in it? Second,
those features must be jointly sufficient for membership: If an object has those
features, then it is in the category. For example, if I defined a dog as a fourlegged animal that barks, this would mean that every dog is four-legged, an
animal, and barks, and also that anything that has all those properties is a dog.
Unfortunately, it has not been possible to find definitions for many familiar
categories. Definitions are neat and clear-cut; the world is messy and often
unclear. For example, consider our definition of dogs. In reality, not all dogs
have four legs; not all dogs bark. I knew a dog that lost her bark with age (this
was an improvement); no one doubted that she was still a dog. It is often possible
to find some necessary features (e.g., all dogs have blood and breathe), but
865
these features are generally not sufficient to determine category membership

(you also have blood and breathe but are not a dog).
Even in domains where one might expect to find clear-cut definitions, such
as science and law, there are often problems. For example, many people were
upset when Pluto was downgraded from its status as a planet to a dwarf planet
in 2006. Upset turned to outrage when they discovered that there was no hardand-fast definition of planethood: Arent these astronomers scientists? Cant
they make a simple definition? In fact, they couldnt. After an astronomical
organization tried to make a definition for planets, a number of astronomers
complained that it might not include accepted planets such as Neptune and
refused to use it. If everything looked like our Earth, our moon, and our sun, it
would be easy to give definitions of planets, moons, and stars, but the universe
has sadly not conformed to this ideal.
Fuzzy Categories
Borderline items. Experiments also showed that the psychological assumptions
of well-defined categories were not correct. Hampton (1979) asked subjects to
judge whether a number of items were in different categories. He did not find
that items were either clear members or clear nonmembers. Instead, he found
many items that were just barely considered category members and others
that were just barely not members, with much disagreement among subjects.
Sinks were barely considered as members of the kitchen utensil category, and
sponges were barely excluded. People just included seaweed as a vegetable
and just barely excluded tomatoes and gourds. Hampton found that members
and nonmembers formed a continuum, with no obvious break in peoples
membership judgments. If categories were well defined, such examples should
be very rare. Many studies since then have found such borderline members
that are not clearly in or clearly out of the category.
866
McCloskey and Glucksberg (1978) found further evidence for borderline

membership by asking people to judge category membership twice, separated
by two weeks. They found that when people made repeated category judgments
such as Is an olive a fruit? or Is a sponge a kitchen utensil? they changed
their minds about borderline itemsup to 22 percent of the time. So, not only
do people disagree with one another about borderline items, they disagree with
themselves! As a result, researchers often say that categories are fuzzy, that is,
they have unclear boundaries that can shift over time.
Typicality. A related finding that turns out to be most important is that even
among items that clearly are in a category, some seem to be better members
than others (Rosch, 1973). Among birds, for example, robins and sparrows are
very typical. In contrast, ostriches and penguins are very atypical (meaning not
typical). If someone says, Theres a bird in my yard, the image you have will
be of a smallish passerine bird such as a robin, not an eagle or hummingbird
or turkey.
867
Table 1. Examples of Two Categories, with Members Ordered by Typicality (from Rosch &
Mervis, 1975)
You can find out which category members are typical merely by asking
people. Table 1 shows a list of category members in order of their rated typicality.
Typicality is perhaps the most important variable in predicting how people
interact with categories. The following text box is a partial list of what typicality
influences.
We can understand the two phenomena of borderline members and
typicality as two sides of the same coin. Think of the most typical category
member: This is often called the category prototype. Items that are less and
less similar to the prototype become less and less typical. At some point, these
less typical items become so atypical that you start to doubt whether they are
in the category at all. Is a rug really an example of furniture? Its in the home
like chairs and tables, but its also different from most furniture in its structure
and use. From day to day, you might change your mind as to whether this
atypical example is in or out of the category. So, changes in typicality ultimately
lead to borderline members.
868
Source of Typicality
Intuitively, it is not surprising that robins are better examples of birds than
penguins are, or that a table is a more typical kind of furniture than is a rug.
But given that robins and penguins are known to be birds, why should one be
more typical than the other? One possible answer is the frequency with which
we encounter the object: We see a lot more robins than penguins, so they must
be more typical. Frequency does have some effect, but it is actually not the most
important variable (Rosch, Simpson, & Miller, 1976). For example, I see both
rugs and tables every single day, but one of them is much more typical as
furniture than the other.
869
The best account of what makes something typical comes from Rosch and
Merviss (1975) family resemblance theory. They proposed that items are likely
to be typical if they (a) have the features that are frequent in the category and
(b) do not have features frequent in other categories. Lets compare two
extremes, robins and penguins. Robins are small flying birds that sing, live in
nests in trees, migrate in winter, hop around on your lawn, and so on. Most of
these properties are found in many other birds. In contrast, penguins do not
fly, do not sing, do not live in nests or in trees, do not hop around on your lawn.
Furthermore, they have properties that are common in other categories, such
as swimming expertly and having wings that look and act like fins. These
properties are more often found in fish than in birds.
According to Rosch and Mervis, then, it is not because a robin is a very
common bird that makes it typical. Rather, it is because the robin has the shape,
size, body parts, and behaviors that are very common among birdsand not
common among fish, mammals, bugs, and so forth.
In a classic experiment, Rosch and Mervis (1975) made up two new
categories, with arbitrary features. Subjects viewed example after example and
had to learn which example was in which category. Rosch and Mervis
constructed some items that had features that were common in the category
and other items that had features less common in the category. The subjects
learned the first type of item before they learned the second type. Furthermore,
they then rated the items with common features as more typical. In another
experiment, Rosch and Mervis constructed items that differed in how many
features were shared with a different category. The more features were shared,
the longer it took subjects to learn which category the item was in. These
experiments, and many later studies, support both parts of the family
resemblance theory.
870
Category Hierarchies
Many important categories fall into hierarchies, in which more concrete
categories are nested inside larger, abstract categories. For example, consider
the categories: brown bear, bear, mammal, vertebrate, animal, entity. Clearly,
all brown bears are bears; all bears are mammals; all mammals are vertebrates;
and so on. Any given object typically does not fall into just one categoryit
could be in a dozen different categories, some of which are structured in this
hierarchical manner. Examples of biological categories come to mind most
easily, but within the realm of human artifacts, hierarchical structures can
readily be found: desk chair, chair, furniture, artifact, object.
Brown (1958), a child language researcher, was perhaps the first to note that
there seems to be a preference for which category we use to label things. If
your office desk chair is in the way, youll probably say, Move that chair, rather
than Move that desk chair or piece of furniture. Brown thought that the use
of a single, consistent name probably helped children to learn the name for
things. And, indeed, childrens first labels for categories tend to be exactly those
names that adults prefer to use (Anglin, 1977).
871
Figure 1. This is a highly simplified illustration of hierarchically organized categories, with

the superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels labeled. Keep in mind that there may be even
more specific subordinates (e.g., wire-haired terriers) and more general superordinates (e.g.,
living thing).
This preference is referred to as a preference for the basic level of

categorization, and it was first studied in detail by Eleanor Rosch and her
students (Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, & Boyes-Braem, 1976). The basic level
represents a kind of Goldilocks effect, in which the category used for something
is not too small (northern brown bear) and not too big (animal), but is just right
(bear). The simplest way to identify an objects basic-level category is to discover
how it would be labeled in a neutral situation. Rosch et al. (1976) showed
subjects pictures and asked them to provide the first name that came to mind.
They found that 1,595 names were at the basic level, with 14 more specific
names (subordinates) used. Only once did anyone use a more general name
(superordinate). Furthermore, in printed text, basic-level labels are much more
frequent than most subordinate or superordinate labels (e.g., Wisniewski &
Murphy, 1989).
The preference for the basic level is not merely a matter of labeling. Basiclevel categories are usually easier to learn. As Brown noted, children use these
categories first in language learning, and superordinates are especially difficult
for children to fully acquire. People are faster at identifying objects as members
872
of basic-level categories (Rosch et al., 1976).

Rosch et al. (1976) initially proposed that basic-level categories cut the world
at its joints, that is, merely reflect the big differences between categories like
chairs and tables or between cats and mice that exist in the world. However, it
turns out that which level is basic is not universal. North Americans are likely
to use names like tree, fish, and bird to label natural objects. But people in less
industrialized societies seldom use these labels and instead use more specific
words, equivalent to elm, trout, and finch (Berlin, 1992). Because Americans
and many other people living in industrialized societies know so much less than
our ancestors did about the natural world, our basic level has moved up to
what would have been the superordinate level a century ago. Furthermore,
experts in a domain often have a preferred level that is more specific than that
of non-experts. Birdwatchers see sparrows rather than just birds, and
carpenters see roofing hammers rather than just hammers (Tanaka & Taylor,
1991). This all suggests that the preferred level is not (only) based on how
different categories are in the world, but that peoples knowledge and interest
in the categories has an important effect.
One explanation of the basic-level preference is that basic-level categories
are more differentiated: The category members are similar to one another, but
they are different from members of other categories (Murphy & Brownell, 1985;
Rosch et al., 1976). (The alert reader will note a similarity to the explanation of
typicality I gave above. However, here were talking about the entire category
and not individual members.) Chairs are pretty similar to one another, sharing
a lot of features (legs, a seat, a back, similar size and shape); they also dont
share that many features with other furniture. Superordinate categories are
not as useful because their members are not very similar to one another. What
features are common to most furniture? There are very few. Subordinate
categories are not as useful, because theyre very similar to other categories:
Desk chairs are quite similar to dining room chairs and easy chairs. As a result,
it can be difficult to decide which subordinate category an object is in (Murphy
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& Brownell, 1985). Experts can differ from novices in which categories are the
most differentiated, because they know different things about the categories,
therefore changing how similar the categories are.
Theories of Concept Representation

Now that we know these facts about the psychology of concepts, the question
arises of how concepts are mentally represented. There have been two main
answers. The first, somewhat confusingly called the prototype theory suggests
that people have a summary representation of the category, a mental
description that is meant to apply to the category as a whole. (The significance
of summary will become apparent when the next theory is described.) This
description can be represented as a set of weighted features (Smith & Medin,
1981). The features are weighted by their frequency in the category. For the
category of birds, having wings and feathers would have a very high weight;
eating worms would have a lower weight; living in Antarctica would have a lower
weight still, but not zero, as some birds do live there.
The idea behind prototype theory is that when you learn a category, you
learn a general description that applies to the category as a whole: Birds have
wings and usually fly; some eat worms; some swim underwater to catch fish.
People can state these generalizations, and sometimes we learn about
categories by reading or hearing such statements (The kimodo dragon can
grow to be 10 feet long).
When you try to classify an item, you see how well it matches that weighted
list of features. For example, if you saw something with wings and feathers fly
onto your front lawn and eat a worm, you could (unconsciously) consult your
concepts and see which ones contained the features you observed. This
example possesses many of the highly weighted bird features, and so it should
be easy to identify as a bird.
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This theory readily explains the phenomena we discussed earlier. Typical

category members have more, higher-weighted features. Therefore, it is easier
to match them to your conceptual representation. Less typical items have fewer
or lower-weighted features (and they may have features of other concepts).
Therefore, they dont match your representation as well. This makes people
less certain in classifying such items. Borderline items may have features in
common with multiple categories or not be very close to any of them. For
example, edible seaweed does not have many of the common features of
vegetables but also is not close to any other food concept (meat, fish, fruit, etc.),
making it hard to know what kind of food it is.
A very different account of concept representation is the exemplar theory
(exemplar being a fancy name for an example; Medin & Schaffer, 1978). This
theory denies that there is a summary representation. Instead, the theory claims
that your concept of vegetables is remembered examples of vegetables you
have seen. This could of course be hundreds or thousands of exemplars over
the course of your life, though we dont know for sure how many exemplars
you actually remember.
How does this theory explain classification? When you see an object, you
(unconsciously) compare it to the exemplars in your memory, and you judge
how similar it is to exemplars in different categories. For example, if you see
some object on your plate and want to identify it, it will probably activate
memories of vegetables, meats, fruit, and so on. In order to categorize this
object, you calculate how similar it is to each exemplar in your memory. These
similarity scores are added up for each category. Perhaps the object is very
similar to a large number of vegetable exemplars, moderately similar to a few
fruit, and only minimally similar to some exemplars of meat you remember.
These similarity scores are compared, and the category with the highest score
is chosen.
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Why would someone propose such a theory of concepts? One answer is that
in many experiments studying concepts, people learn concepts by seeing
exemplars over and over again until they learn to classify them correctly. Under
such conditions, it seems likely that people eventually memorize the exemplars
(Smith & Minda, 1998). There is also evidence that close similarity to wellremembered objects has a large effect on classification. Allen and Brooks (1991)
taught people to classify items by following a rule. However, they also had their
subjects study the items, which were richly detailed. In a later test, the
experimenters gave people new items that were very similar to one of the old
items but were in a different category. That is, they changed one property so
that the item no longer followed the rule. They discovered that people were
often fooled by such items. Rather than following the category rule they had
been taught, they seemed to recognize the new item as being very similar to
an old one and so put it, incorrectly, into the same category.
Many experiments have been done to compare the prototype and exemplar
theories. Overall, the exemplar theory seems to have won most of these
comparisons. However, the experiments are somewhat limited in that they
usually involve a small number of exemplars that people view over and over
again. It is not so clear that exemplar theory can explain real-world classification
in which people do not spend much time learning individual items (how much
time do you spend studying squirrels? or chairs?). Also, given that some part of
our knowledge of categories is learned through general statements we read or
hear, it seems that there must be room for a summary description separate
from exemplar memory.
Many researchers would now acknowledge that concepts are represented
through multiple cognitive systems. For example, your knowledge of dogs may
be in part through general descriptions such as dogs have four legs. But you
probably also have strong memories of some exemplars (your family dog,
Lassie) that influence your categorization. Furthermore, some categories also
involve rules (e.g., a strike in baseball). How these systems work together is the
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subject of current study.
Knowledge
The final topic has to do with how concepts fit with our broader knowledge of
the world. We have been talking very generally about people learning the
features of concepts. For example, they see a number of birds and then learn
that birds generally have wings, or perhaps they remember bird exemplars.
From this perspective, it makes no difference what those exemplars or features
arepeople just learn them. But consider two possible concepts of buildings
and their features in Table 2.
Table 2. Examples of Two Fictional Concepts
Imagine you had to learn these two concepts by seeing exemplars of them,
each exemplar having some of the features listed for the concept (as well as
some idiosyncratic features). Learning the donker concept would be pretty easy.
It seems to be a kind of underwater building, perhaps for deep-sea explorers.
Its features seem to go together. In contrast, the blegdav doesnt really make
sense. If its in the desert, how can you get there by submarine, and why do
they have polar bears as pets? Why would farmers live in the desert or use
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submarines? What good would steel windows do in such a building? This

concept seems peculiar. In fact, if people are asked to learn new concepts that
make sense, such as donkers, they learn them quite a bit faster than concepts
such as blegdavs that dont make sense (Murphy & Allopenna, 1994).
Furthermore, the features that seem connected to one another (such as being
underwater and getting there by submarine) are learned better than features
that dont seem related to the others (such as being red).
Such effects demonstrate that when we learn new concepts, we try to
connect them to the knowledge we already have about the world. If you were
to learn about a new animal that doesnt seem to eat or reproduce, you would
be very puzzled and think that you must have gotten something wrong. By
themselves, the prototype and exemplar theories dont predict this. They simply
say that you learn descriptions or exemplars, and they dont put any constraints
on what those descriptions or exemplars are. However, the knowledge
approach to concepts emphasizes that concepts are meant to tell us about real
things in the world, and so our knowledge of the world is used in learning and
thinking about concepts.
We can see this effect of knowledge when we learn about new pieces of
technology. For example, most people could easily learn about tablet computers
(such as iPads) when they were first introduced by drawing on their knowledge
of laptops, cell phones, and related technology. Of course, this reliance on past
knowledge can also lead to errors, as when people dont learn about features
of their new tablet that werent present in their cell phone or expect the tablet
to be able to do something it cant.
One important aspect of peoples knowledge about categories is called
psychological essentialism (Gelman, 2003; Medin & Ortony, 1989). People tend
to believe that some categoriesmost notably natural kinds such as animals,
plants, or mineralshave an underlying property that is found only in that
category and that causes its other features. Most categories dont actually have
essences, but this is sometimes a firmly held belief. For example, many people
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will state that there is something about dogs, perhaps some specific gene or
set of genes, that all dogs have and that makes them bark, have fur, and look
the way they do. Therefore, decisions about whether something is a dog do not
depend only on features that you can easily see but also on the assumed
presence of this cause.
Belief in an essence can be revealed through experiments describing
fictional objects. Keil (1989) described to adults and children a fiendish
operation in which someone took a raccoon, dyed its hair black with a white
stripe down the middle, and implanted a sac of super-smelly yucky stuff under
its tail. The subjects were shown a picture of a skunk and told that this is now
what the animal looks like. What is it? Adults and children over the age of 4 all
agreed that the animal is still a raccoon. It may look and even act like a skunk,
but a raccoon cannot change its stripes (or whatever!)it will always be a
raccoon.
Importantly, the same effect was not found when Keil described a coffeepot
that was operated on to look like and function as a birdfeeder. Subjects agreed
that it was now a birdfeeder. Artifacts dont have an essence.
Signs of essentialism include (a) objects are believed to be either in or out
of the category, with no in-between; (b) resistance to change of category
membership or of properties connected to the essence; and (c) for living things,
the essence is passed on to progeny.
Essentialism is probably helpful in dealing with much of the natural world,
but it may be less helpful when it is applied to humans. Considerable evidence
suggests that people think of gender, racial, and ethnic groups as having
essences, which serves to emphasize the difference between groups and even
justify discrimination (Hirschfeld, 1996). Historically, group differences were
described by inheriting the blood of ones family or group. Bad blood was not
just an expression but a belief that negative properties were inherited and could
not be changed. After all, if it is in the nature of those people to be dishonest
(or clannish or athletic ...), then that could hardly be changed, any more than a
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raccoon can change into a skunk.

Research on categories of people is an exciting ongoing enterprise, and we
still do not know as much as we would like to about how concepts of different
kinds of people are learned in childhood and how they may (or may not) change
in adulthood. Essentialism doesnt apply only to person categories, but it is one
important factor in how we think of groups.
Conclusion
Concepts are central to our everyday thought. When we are planning for the
future or thinking about our past, we think about specific events and objects
in terms of their categories. If youre visiting a friend with a new baby, you have
some expectations about what the baby will do, what gifts would be appropriate,
how you should behave toward it, and so on. Knowing about the category of
babies helps you to effectively plan and behave when you encounter this child
youve never seen before.
Learning about those categories is a complex process that involves seeing
exemplars (babies), hearing or reading general descriptions (Babies like blackand-white pictures), general knowledge (babies have kidneys), and learning
the occasional rule (all babies have a rooting reflex). Current research is focusing
on how these different processes take place in the brain. It seems likely that
these different aspects of concepts are accomplished by different neural
structures (Maddox & Ashby, 2004).
Another interesting topic is how concepts differ across cultures. As different
cultures have different interests and different kinds of interactions with the
world, it seems clear that their concepts will somehow reflect those differences.
On the other hand, the structure of categories in the world also imposes a
strong constraint on what kinds of categories are actually useful. Some
researchers have suggested that differences between Eastern and Western
modes of thought have led to qualitatively different kinds of concepts (e.g.,
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Norenzayan, Smith, Kim, & Nisbett, 2002). Although such differences are
intriguing, we should also remember that different cultures seem to share
common categories such as chairs, dogs, parties, and jars, so the differences
may not be as great as suggested by experiments designed to detect cultural
effects. The interplay of culture, the environment, and basic cognitive processes
in establishing concepts has yet to be fully investigated.
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Outside Resources
Debate: The debate about Pluto and the definition of planet is an interesting
one, as it illustrates the difficulty of arriving at definitions even in science.
The Planetary Science Institutes website has a series of press releases about
the Pluto debate, including reactions from astronomers, while it happened.
http://www.psi.edu
Image Search: It can be interesting to get a pictorial summary of how much

diversity there is among category members. If you do an image search for
familiar categories such as houses, dogs, weddings, telephones, fruit, or
whatever, you can get a visual display on a single page of the category
structure. Of course, the results are probably biased, as people do not just
randomly upload pictures of dogs or fruit, but it nonetheless will likely reveal
the typicality structure, as most of the pictures will be of typical exemplars,
and the atypical ones will stand out. (This activity will also demonstrate the
phenomenon of ambiguity in language, as a search for house will yield
some pictures of the TV character House, M.D. However, that is a lesson for
a different chapter.)
https://www.google.com/
Self-test: If you would like to run your own category-learning experiment,

you can do so by following the link below. It works either in-browser or by
download. When downloaded, users can put in their own stimuli to
categorize.
http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/CogSciSoftware/Categorization/index.html
Web: An interesting article at Space.com argues (I believe correctly) that the

term planet will not and should not be defined.
http://www.space.com/3142-planets-defined.html
Web: Most familiar categories have simple labels such as planet or dog.
However, more complex categories can be made up for a particular purpose.
Barsalou (1983) studied categories such as things to carry out of a burning
house or ways to avoid being killed by the Mob. Interestingly, someone has
published a book consisting of peoples photographs of things they would
carry out of a burning house, and there is also a website showing such
collections. Try to analyze what is common to the category members. What
is the categorys prototype?
http://theburninghouse.com/
1. Pick a couple of familiar categories and try to come up with definitions for
them. When you evaluate each proposal (a) is it in fact accurate as a
definition, and( b) is it a definition that people might actually use in
identifying category members?
2. For the same categories, can you identify members that seem to be better
and worse members? What about these items makes them typical and
atypical?
3. Going around the room, point to some common objects (including things
people are wearing or brought with them) and identify what the basic-level
category is for that item. What are superordinate and subordinate
categories for the same items?
4. List some features of a common category such as tables. The knowledge
view suggests that you know reasons for why these particular features occur
together. Can you articulate some of those reasons? Do the same thing for
an animal category.
5. Choose three common categories: a natural kind, a human artifact, and a
social event. Discuss with class members from other countries or cultures
whether the corresponding categories in their cultures differ. Can you make
a hypothesis about when such categories are likely to differ and when they
are not?
Vocabulary
Basic-level category
The neutral, preferred category for a given object, at an intermediate level of
specificity.
Category
A set of entities that are equivalent in some way. Usually the items are similar
to one another.
Concept
The mental representation of a category.
Exemplar
An example in memory that is labeled as being in a particular category.
Psychological essentialism
The belief that members of a category have an unseen property that causes
them to be in the category and to have the properties associated with it.
Typicality
The difference in goodness of category members, ranging from the most
typical (the prototype) to borderline members.
Reference List
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Anglin, J. M. (1977). Word, object, and conceptual development. New York, NY:
W. W. Norton.
Berlin, B. (1992). Ethnobiological classification: Principles of categorization of
plants and animals in traditional societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
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Brown, R. (1958). How shall a thing be called? Psychological Review, 65, 1421.
Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child: Origins of essentialism in everyday
thought. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hampton, J. A. (1979). Polymorphous concepts in semantic memory. Journal of
Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 441461.
Hirschfeld, L. A. (1996). Race in the making: Cognition, culture, and the child's
construction of human kinds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Horton, M. S., & Markman, E. M. (1980). Developmental differences in the
acquisition of basic and superordinate categories. Child Development, 51,
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Keil, F. C. (1989). Concepts, kinds, and cognitive development. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Maddox, W. T., & Ashby, F. G. (2004). Dissociating explicit and procedural-based

systems of perceptual category learning. Behavioural Processes, 66, 309
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Mandler, J. M. (2004). The foundations of mind: Origins of conceptual thought.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Mareschal, D., Quinn, P. C., & Lea, S. E. G. (Eds.) (2010). The making of human
concepts. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
McCloskey, M. E., & Glucksberg, S. (1978). Natural categories: Well defined or
fuzzy sets? Memory & Cognition, 6, 462472.
Medin, D. L., & Ortony, A. (1989). Psychological essentialism. In S. Vosniadou &
A. Ortony (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 179195).
Medin, D. L., & Schaffer, M. M. (1978). Context theory of classification learning.
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In U. Neisser (Ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: Ecological and
intellectual factors in categorization (pp. 201233). Cambridge, UK:
Murphy, G. L., & Allopenna, P. D. (1994). The locus of knowledge effects in
concept learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
Murphy, G. L., & Brownell, H. H. (1985). Category differentiation in object
recognition: Typicality constraints on the basic category advantage. Journal

Norenzayan, A., Smith, E. E., Kim, B. J., & Nisbett, R. E. (2002). Cultural preferences
for formal versus intuitive reasoning. Cognitive Science, 26, 653684.
Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W., Johnson, D., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic
objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 382439.
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structure of categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573605.
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categories. In T. E. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition
of language (pp. 111144). New York, NY: Academic Press.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Categories and Concepts by Gregory Murphy is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Language and Language Use

Yoshihisa Kashima
University of Melbourne
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Humans have the capacity to use complex language, far more than any other
species on Earth. We cooperate with each other to use language for
communication; language is often used to communicate about and even
construct and maintain our social world. Language use and human sociality are
inseparable parts of Homo sapiens as a biological species.
Learning Objectives
Define basic terms used to describe language use.
Describe the process by which people can share new information by using
language.
Characterize the typical content of conversation and its social implications.
Characterize psychological consequences of language use and give an

example.
Introduction
Imagine two men of 30-something age, Adam and Ben, walking down the
corridor. Judging from their clothing, they are young businessmen, taking a
break from work. They then exchange the utterances.
If you are watching this scene and hearing their conversation, what can you
guess from this? First of all, youd guess that Gary bought a ring for Mary,
whoever Gary and Mary might be. Perhaps you would infer that Gary is getting
married to Mary. What else can you guess? Perhaps that Adam and Ben are
fairly close colleagues, and both of them know Gary and Mary reasonably well.
In other words, you can guess the social relationships surrounding the people
who are engaging in the conversation and the people whom they are talking
about.
Language is used in our everyday life. If psychology is a science of behavior,
scientific investigation of language use must be one of the most central topics
this is because language use is ubiquitous in human lives. Every human group
has a language; human infants (except those who have unfortunate disabilities)
learn at least one language without being taught explicitly. Even when children
who dont have much language to begin with are brought together, they can
begin to develop and use their own language. There is at least one known
instance where children who had had little language were brought together
and developed their own language spontaneously with minimum input from
adults. In Nicaragua in the 1980s, deaf children who were separately raised in
various locations were brought together to schools for the first time. Teachers
tried to teach them Spanish with little success. However, they began to notice
that the children were using their hands and gestures, apparently to
communicate with each other. Linguists were brought in to find out what was
happeningit turned out the children had developed their own sign language
by themselves. That was the birth of a new language, Nicaraguan Sign Language
(Kegl, Senghas, & Coppola, 1999). Language is ubiquitous, and we humans are
nobaproject.com - Language and Language Use
894
born to use it.
How Do We Use Language?

If language is so ubiquitous, how do we actually use it? To be sure, some of us
use it to write diaries and poetry, but the primary form of language use is
interpersonal. Thats how we learn language, and thats how we use it. Just like
Adam and Ben, we exchange words and utterances to communicate with each
other. Lets consider the simplest case of two people, Adam and Ben, talking
with each other. According to Clark (1996), in order for them to carry out a
conversation, they must keep track of common ground. Common ground is a
set of knowledge that the speaker and listener share and they think, assume,
or otherwise take for granted that they share. So, when Adam says, Gary bought
a ring, he takes for granted that Ben knows the meaning of the words he is
using, whom Gary is, and what buying a ring means. When Ben says, For Mary,
isnt it? he takes for granted that Adam knows the meaning of these words,
who Mary is, and what buying a ring for someone means. All these are part of
their common ground.
Note that, when Adam presents the information about Garys purchase of
a ring, Ben responds by presenting his inference about who the recipient of the
ring might be, namely, Mary. In conversational terms, Bens utterance acts as
evidence for his comprehension of Adams utteranceYes, I understood that
Gary bought a ringand Adams nod acts as evidence that he now has
understood what Ben has said tooYes, I understood that you understood
that Gary has bought a ring for Mary. This new information is now added to
the initial common ground. Thus, the pair of utterances by Adam and Ben (called
an adjacency pair) together with Adams affirmative nod jointly completes one
proposition, Gary bought a ring for Mary, and adds this information to their
common ground. This way, common ground changes as we talk, gathering new
information that we agree on and have evidence that we share. It evolves as
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people take turns to assume the roles of speaker and listener, and actively
engage in the exchange of meaning.
Common ground helps people coordinate their language use. For instance,
when a speaker says something to a listener, he or she takes into account their
common ground, that is, what the speaker thinks the listener knows. Adam said
what he did because he knew Ben would know who Gary was. Hed have said,
A friend of mine is getting married, to another colleague who wouldnt know
Gary. This is called audience design (Fussell & Krauss, 1992); speakers design
their utterances for their audiences by taking into account the audiences
knowledge. If their audiences are seen to be knowledgeable about an object
(such as Ben about Gary), they tend to use a brief label of the object (i.e., Gary);
for a less knowledgeable audience, they use more descriptive words (e.g., a
friend of mine) to help the audience understand their utterances (Box 1).
So, language use is a cooperative activity, but how do we coordinate our

language use in a conversational setting? To be sure, we have a conversation
in small groups. The number of people engaging in a conversation at a time is
rarely more than four. By some counts (e.g., Dunbar, Duncan, & Nettle, 1995;
James, 1953), more than 90 percent of conversations happen in a group of four
896
individuals or less. Certainly, coordinating conversation among four is not as

difficult as coordinating conversation among 10. But, even among only four
people, if you think about it, everyday conversation is an almost miraculous
achievement. We typically have a conversation by rapidly exchanging words
and utterances in real time in a noisy environment. Think about your
conversation at home in the morning, at a bus stop, in a shopping mall. How
can we keep track of our common ground under such circumstances?
Pickering and Garrod (2004) argue that we achieve our conversational
coordination by virtue of our ability to interactively align each others actions
at different levels of language use: lexicon (i.e., words and expressions), syntax
(i.e., grammatical rules for arranging words and expressions together), as well
as speech rate and accent. For instance, when one person uses a certain
expression to refer to an object in a conversation, others tend to use the same
expression (e.g., Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986). Furthermore, if someone says the
cowboy offered a banana to the robber, rather than the cowboy offered the
robber a banana, others are more likely to use the same syntactic structure (e.
g., the girl gave a book to the boy rather than the girl gave the boy a book)
even if different words are involved (Branigan, Pickering, & Cleland, 2000).
Finally, people in conversation tend to exhibit similar accents and rates of
speech, and they are often associated with peoples social identity (Giles,
Coupland, & Coupland, 1991). So, if you have lived in different places where
people have somewhat different accents (e.g., United States and United
Kingdom), you might have noticed that you speak with Americans with an
American accent, but speak with Britons with a British accent.
Pickering and Garrod (2004) suggest that these interpersonal alignments at
different levels of language use can activate similar situation models in the
minds of those who are engaged in a conversation. Situation models are
representations about the topic of a conversation. So, if you are talking about
Gary and Mary with your friends, you might have a situation model of Gary
giving Mary a ring in your mind. Pickering and Garrods theory is that as you
897
describe this situation using language, others in the conversation begin to use
similar words and grammar, and many other aspects of language use converge.
As you all do so, similar situation models begin to be built in everyones mind
through the mechanism known as priming. Priming occurs when your thinking
about one concept (e.g., ring) reminds you about other related concepts (e.g.,
marriage, wedding ceremony). So, if everyone in the conversation knows
about Gary, Mary, and the usual course of events associated with a ring
engagement, wedding, marriage, etc. everyone is likely to construct a shared
situation model about Gary and Mary. Thus, making use of our highly developed
interpersonal ability to imitate (i.e., executing the same action as another
person) and cognitive ability to infer (i.e., one idea leading to other ideas), we
humans coordinate our common ground, share situation models, and
communicate with each other.
What Do We Talk About?

What are humans doing when we are talking? Surely, we can communicate
about mundane things such as what to have for dinner, but also more complex
and abstract things such as the meaning of life and death, liberty, equality, and
fraternity, and many other philosophical thoughts. Well, when naturally
occurring conversations were actually observed (Dunbar, Marriott, & Duncan,
1997), a staggering 60%70% of everyday conversation, for both men and
women, turned out to be gossippeople talk about themselves and others
whom they know. Just like Adam and Ben, more often than not, people use
language to communicate about their social world.
Gossip may sound trivial and seem to belittle our noble ability for language
surely one of the most remarkable human abilities of all that distinguish us
from other animals. Au contraire, some have argued that gossipactivities to
think and communicate about our social worldis one of the most critical uses
to which language has been put. Dunbar (1996) conjectured that gossiping is
898
the human equivalent of grooming, monkeys and primates attending and

tending to each other by cleaning each others fur. He argues that it is an act of
socializing, signalling the importance of ones partner. Furthermore, by
gossiping, humans can communicate and share their representations about
their social worldwho their friends and enemies are, what the right thing to
do is under what circumstances, and so on. In so doing, they can regulate their
social worldmaking more friends and enlarging ones own group (often called
the ingroup, the group to which one belongs) against other groups (outgroups)
that are more likely to be ones enemies. Dunbar has argued that it is these
social effects that have given humans an evolutionary advantage and larger
brains, which, in turn, help humans to think more complex and abstract
thoughts and, more important, maintain larger ingroups. Dunbar (1993)
estimated an equation that predicts average group size of nonhuman primate
genera from their average neocortex size (the part of the brain that supports
higher order cognition). In line with his social brain hypothesis, Dunbar showed
that those primate genera that have larger brains tend to live in larger groups.
Furthermore, using the same equation, he was able to estimate the group size
that human brains can support, which turned out to be about 150
approximately the size of modern hunter-gatherer communities. Dunbars
argument is that language, brain, and human group living have co-evolved
language and human sociality are inseparable.
Dunbars hypothesis is controversial. Nonetheless, whether or not he is right,
our everyday language use often ends up maintaining the existing structure of
intergroup relationships. Language use can have implications for how we
construe our social world. For one thing, there are subtle cues that people use
to convey the extent to which someones action is just a special case in a
particular context or a pattern that occurs across many contexts and more like
a character trait of the person. According to Semin and Fiedler (1988), someones
action can be described by an action verb that describes a concrete action (e.
g., he runs), a state verb that describes the actors psychological state (e.g., he
899
likes running), an adjective that describes the actors personality (e.g., he is

athletic), or a noun that describes the actors role (e.g., he is an athlete).
Depending on whether a verb or an adjective (or noun) is used, speakers can
convey the permanency and stability of an actors tendency to act in a certain
wayverbs convey particularity, whereas adjectives convey permanency.
Intriguingly, people tend to describe positive actions of their ingroup members
using adjectives (e.g., he is generous) rather than verbs (e.g., he gave a blind
man some change), and negative actions of outgroup members using adjectives
(e.g., he is cruel) rather than verbs (e.g., he kicked a dog). Maass, Salvi, Arcuri,
and Semin (1989) called this a linguistic intergroup bias, which can produce
and reproduce the representation of intergroup relationships by painting a
picture favoring the ingroup. That is, ingroup members are typically good, and
if they do anything bad, thats more an exception in special circumstances; in
contrast, outgroup members are typically bad, and if they do anything good,
thats more an exception.
In addition, when people exchange their gossip, it can spread through

broader social networks. If gossip is transmitted from one person to another,
the second person can transmit it to a third person, who then in turn transmits
it to a fourth, and so on through a chain of communication. This often happens
900
for emotive stories (Box 2). If gossip is repeatedly transmitted and spread, it
can reach a large number of people. When stories travel through
communication chains, they tend to become conventionalized (Bartlett, 1932).
A Native American tale of the War of the Ghosts recounts a warriors encounter
with ghosts traveling in canoes and his involvement with their ghostly battle.
He is shot by an arrow but doesnt die, returning home to tell the tale. After his
narration, however, he becomes still, a black thing comes out of his mouth, and
he eventually dies. When it was told to a student in England in the 1920s and
retold from memory to another person, who, in turn, retold it to another and
so on in a communication chain, the mythic tale became a story of a young
warrior going to a battlefield, in which canoes became boats, and the black
thing that came out of his mouth became simply his spirit (Bartlett, 1932). In
other words, information transmitted multiple times was transformed to
something that was easily understood by many, that is, information was
assimilated into the common ground shared by most people in the linguistic
community. More recently, Kashima (2000) conducted a similar experiment
using a story that contained sequence of events that described a young couples
interaction that included both stereotypical and counter-stereotypical actions
(e.g., a man watching sports on TV on Sunday vs. a man vacuuming the house).
After the retelling of this story, much of the counter-stereotypical information
was dropped, and stereotypical information was more likely to be retained.
Because stereotypes are part of the common ground shared by the community,
this finding too suggests that conversational retellings are likely to reproduce
conventional content.
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Psychological Consequences of Language Use

What are the psychological consequences of language use? When people use
language to describe an experience, their thoughts and feelings are profoundly
shaped by the linguistic representation that they have produced rather than
the original experience per se(Holtgraves & Kashima, 2008). For example,
Halberstadt (2003) showed a picture of a person displaying an ambiguous
emotion and examined how people evaluated the displayed emotion. When
people verbally explained why the target person was expressing a particular
emotion, they tended to remember the person as feeling that emotion more
intensely than when they simply labeled the emotion. Thus, constructing a
linguistic representation of another persons emotion apparently biased the
speakers memory of that persons emotion. Furthermore, linguistically labeling
ones own emotional experience appears to alter the speakers neural
processes. When people linguistically labeled negative images, the amygdala
a brain structure that is critically involved in the processing of negative
emotions such as fearwas activated less than when they were not given a
chance to label them (Lieberman et al., 2007). Potentially because of these
effects of verbalizing emotional experiences, linguistic reconstructions of
negative life events can have some therapeutic effects on those who suffer from
the traumatic experiences (Pennebaker & Seagal, 1999). Lyubomirsky, Sousa,
and Dickerhoof (2006) found that writing and talking about negative past life
events improved peoples psychological well-being, but just thinking about them
worsened it. There are many other examples of effects of language use on
memory and decision making (Holtgraves & Kashima, 2008).
902
903
Furthermore, if a certain type of language use (linguistic practice) (Holtgraves

& Kashima, 2008) is repeated by a large number of people in a community, it
can potentially have a significant effect on their thoughts and action. This notion
is often called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Sapir, 1921; Whorf, 1956; Box 3). For
instance, if you are given a description of a man, Steven, as having greater than
average experience of the world (e.g., well-traveled, varied job experience), a
strong family orientation, and well-developed social skills, how do you describe
Steven? Do you think you can remember Stevens personality five days later? It
will probably be difficult. But if you know Chinese and are reading about Steven
in Chinese, as Hoffman, Lau, and Johnson (1986) showed, the chances are that
you can remember him well. This is because English does not have a word to
describe this kind of personality, whereas Chinese does (sh g). This way,
language you use can influence your cognition. In its strong form, it has been
argued that language determines thought, but this is probably wrong. Language
does not completely determine our thoughtsour thoughts are far too flexible
for thatbut habitual uses of language can influence our habit of thought and
action. For instance, some linguistic practice seems to be associated even with
cultural values and social institution. Pronoun drop is the case in point.
Pronouns such as I and you are used to represent the speaker and listener
of a speech in English. In an English sentence, these pronouns cannot be
dropped if they are used as the subject of a sentence. So, for instance, I went
to the movie last night is fine, but Went to the movie last night is not in
standard English. However, in other languages such as Japanese, pronouns can
be, and in fact often are, dropped from sentences. It turned out that people
living in those countries where pronoun drop languages are spoken tend to
have more collectivistic values (e.g., employees having greater loyalty toward
their employers) than those who use nonpronoun drop languages such as
English (Kashima & Kashima, 1998). It was argued that the explicit reference to
you and I may remind speakers the distinction between the self and other,
and the differentiation between individuals. Such a linguistic practice may act
904
as a constant reminder of the cultural value, which, in turn, may encourage

people to perform the linguistic practice.
Conclusion
Language and language use constitute a central ingredient of human
psychology. Language is an essential tool that enables us to live the kind of life
we do. Can you imagine a world in which machines are built, farms are
cultivated, and goods and services are transported to our household without
language? Is it possible for us to make laws and regulations, negotiate contracts,
and enforce agreements and settle disputes without talking? Much of
contemporary human civilization wouldnt have been possible without the
human ability to develop and use language. Like the Tower of Babel, language
can divide humanity, and yet, the core of humanity includes the innate ability
for language use. Whether we can use it wisely is a task before us in this
globalized world.
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1. In what sense is language use innate and learned?
2. Is language a tool for thought or a tool for communication?
3. What sorts of unintended consequences can language use bring to your
psychological processes?
Vocabulary
Audience design
Constructing utterances to suit the audiences knowledge.
Common ground
Information that is shared by people who engage in a conversation.
Ingroup
Group to which a person belongs.
Lexicon
Words and expressions.
Linguistic intergroup bias
A tendency for people to characterize positive things about their ingroup using
more abstract expressions, but negative things about their outgroups using
more abstract expressions.
Outgroup
Group to which a person does not belong.
Priming
A stimulus presented to a person reminds him or her about other ideas
associated with the stimulus.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
The hypothesis that the language that people use determines their thoughts.
Situation model
A mental representation of an event, object, or situation constructed at the time
of comprehending a linguistic description.
Social brain hypothesis
The hypothesis that the human brain has evolved, so that humans can maintain
larger ingroups.
Social networks
Networks of social relationships among individuals through which information
can travel.
Syntax
Rules by which words are strung together to form sentences.
Reference List
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Language and Language Use by Yoshihisa
Kashima is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Theory of Mind
Bertram Malle
Brown University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
One of the most remarkable human capacities is to perceive and understand
mental states. This capacity, often labeled theory of mind, consists of an array
of psychological processes that play essential roles in human social life. We
review some of these roles, examine what happens when the capacity is
deficient, and explore the many processes that make up the capacity to
understand minds.
Learning Objectives
Explain what theory of mind is.
Enumerate the many domains of social life in which theory of mind is critical.
Describe some characteristics of how autistic individuals differ in their

processing of others minds.
Describe and explain some of the many concepts and processes that
comprise the human understanding of minds.
Have a basic understanding of how ordinary people explain unintentional

and intentional behavior.
Introduction
One of the most fascinating human capacities is the ability to perceive and
interpret other peoples behavior in terms of their mental states. Having an
appreciation for the workings of another persons mind is considered a
prerequisite for natural language acquisition (Baldwin & Tomasello, 1998),
strategic social interaction (Zhang, Hedden, & Chia, 2012), reflexive thought
(Bogdan, 2000), and moral judgment (Guglielmo, Monroe, & Malle, 2009). This
capacity develops from early beginnings in the first year of life to the adults
fast and often effortless understanding of others thoughts, feelings, and
intentions. And though we must speculate about its evolutionary origin, we do
have indications that the capacity evolved sometime in the last few million years.
In this chapter we will focus on two questions: What is the role of
understanding others minds in human social life? And what is known about
the mental processes that underlie such understanding? For simplicity, we will
label this understanding theory of mind, even though it is not literally a
theory that people have about the mind; rather, it is a capacity that some
scholars prefer to label mentalizing or mindreading. But we will go behind
all these labels by breaking down the capacity into distinct components: the
specific concepts and mental processes that underlie the human understanding
of minds.
First, lets get clear about the roles that this understanding plays in social life.
The Role of Theory of Mind in Social Life

Put yourself in this scene: You observe two peoples movements, one behind a
large wooden object, the other reaching behind him and then holding a thin
object in front of the other. Without a theory of mind you would neither
understand what this movement stream meant nor be able to predict either
persons likely responses. With the capacity to interpret certain physical
nobaproject.com - Theory of Mind
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movements in terms of mental states, perceivers can parse this complex scene
into intentional actions of reaching and giving (Baird & Baldwin, 2001); they can
interpret the actions as instances of offering and trading; and with an
appropriate cultural script, they know that all that was going on was a customer
pulling out her credit card with the intention to pay the cashier behind the
register. Peoples theory of mind thus frames and interprets perceptions of
human behavior in a particular wayas perceptions of agents who can act
intentionally and who have desires, beliefs, and other mental states that guide
their actions (Perner, 1991; Wellman, 1990).
Not only would social perceivers without a theory of mind be utterly lost in
a simple payment interaction; without a theory of mind, there would probably
be no such things as cashiers, credit cards, and payment (Tomasello, 2003).
Plain and simple, humans need to understand minds in order to engage in the
kinds of complex interactions that social communities (small and large) require.
And it is these complex social interactions that have given rise, in human cultural
evolution, to houses, cities, and nations; to books, money, and computers; to
education, law, and science.
The list of social interactions that rely deeply on theory of mind is long; here
are a few highlights.
Teaching another person new actions or rules by taking into account what
the learner knows or doesnt know and how one might best make him
understand.
Learning the words of a language by monitoring what other people attend

to and are trying to do when they use certain words.
Figuring out our social standing by trying to guess what others think and
feel about us.
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Sharing experiences by telling a friend how much we liked a movie or by

showing her something beautiful.
Collaborating on a task by signaling to one another that we share a goal and

understand and trust the others intention to pursue this joint goal.
Autism and Theory of Mind

Another way of appreciating the enormous impact that theory of mind has on
social interactions is to study what happens when the capacity is severely
limited, as in the case of autism (Tager-Flusberg, 2007). In a fascinating
discussion in which (high-functioning) autistic individuals talk about their
difficulties with other peoples minds (Blackburn, Gottschewski, George, & L
, 2000), one person reports: I know peoples faces down to the acne scars on
the left corners of their chins . . . and how the hairs of their eyebrows curl. . . .
The best I can do is start picking up bits of data during my encounter with them
because theres not much else I can do. . . . Im not sure what kind of information
about them Im attempting to process. What seems to be missing, as another
autistic discussant remarks, is an automatic processing of people
information. Some autistic people report that they perceive others in
a more analytical way. This analytical mode of processing, however, is very
tiresome and slow: Given time I may be able to analyze someone in various
ways, and seem to get good results, but may not pick up on certain aspects of
an interaction until I am obsessing over it hours or days later (Blackburn et al.,
2000).
918
So what is this magical potion that allows most people to gain quick and
automatic access to other peoples minds and to recognize the meaning
underlying human behavior? Scientific research has accumulated a good deal
of knowledge in the past few decades, and here is a synopsis of what we know.
The Mental Processes Underlying Theory of Mind

The first thing to note is that theory of mind is not a single thing. What underlies
peoples capacity to recognize and understand mental states is a whole host of
componentsa toolbox, as it were, for many different but related tasks in the
social world (Malle, 2008). Figure 1 shows some of the most important tools,
organized in a way that reflects the complexity of involved processes: from
simple and automatic on the bottom to complex and deliberate on the top. This
organization also reflects developmentfrom tools that infants master within
the first 612 months to tools they need to acquire over the next 35 years.
Strikingly, the organization also reflects evolution: monkeys have available the
tools on the bottom; chimpanzees have available the tools at the second level;
but only humans master the remaining tools above. Lets look at a few of them
in more detail.
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Figure 1. Some of the major tools of theory of mind, with the bottom showing simple,
automatic, early developing, and evolutionarily old processes, and the top showing complex,
more deliberate, late developing, and evolutionarily recent processes.
Agents, Goals, and Intentionality

The agent category allows humans to identify those moving objects in the world
that can act on their own. Features that even very young children take to be
indicators of being an agent include being self-propelled, having eyes, and
reacting systematically to the interaction partners behavior, such as following
gaze or imitating (Johnson, 2000; Premack, 1990).
920
The process of recognizing goals builds on this agent category, because

agents are characteristically directed toward goal objects, which means they
seek out, track, and often physically contact said objects. Even before the end
of their first year, infants recognize that humans reach toward an object they
strive for even if that object changes location or if the path to the object contains
obstacles (Gergely, Ndasdy, Csibra, & Br, 1995; Woodward, 1998). What it
means to recognize goals, therefore, is to see the systematic and predictable
relationship between a particular agent pursuing a particular object across
various circumstances.
Through learning to recognize the many ways by which agents pursue goals,
humans learn to pick out behaviors that are intentional. The concept of
intentionality is more sophisticated than the goal concept. For one thing,
human perceivers recognize that some behaviors can be unintentional even if
they were goal-directedsuch as when you unintentionally make a fool of
yourself even though you had the earnest goal of impressing your date. To act
intentionally you need, aside from a goal, the right kinds of beliefs about how
to achieve the goal. Moreover, the adult concept of intentionality requires that
an agent have the skill to perform the intentional action in question: If I am
flipping a coin, trying to make it land on heads, and if I get it to land on heads
on my first try, you would not judge my action of making it land on heads as
intentionalyou would say it was luck (Malle & Knobe, 1997).
Imitation, Synchrony, and Empathy

Imitation and empathy are two other basic capacities that aid the understanding
of mind from childhood on (Meltzoff & Decety, 2003). Imitation is the human
tendency to carefully observe others behaviors and do as they doeven if it is
the first time the perceiver has seen this behavior. A subtle, automatic form of
imitation is called mimicry, and when people mutually mimic one another they
can reach a state of synchrony. Have you ever noticed when two people in
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conversation take on similar gestures, body positions, even tone of voice? They
synchronize their behaviors by way of (largely) unconscious imitation. Such
synchrony can happen even at very low levels, such as negative physiological
arousal (Levenson & Ruef, 1992), though the famous claim of synchrony in
womens menstrual cycles is a myth (Yang & Schank, 2006). Interestingly, people
who enjoy an interaction synchronize their behaviors more, and increased
synchrony (even manipulated in an experiment) makes people enjoy their
interaction more (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). Some research findings suggest
that synchronizing is made possible by brain mechanisms that tightly link
perceptual information with motor information (when I see you move your arm,
my arm-moving program is activated). In monkeys, highly specialized so-called
mirror neurons fire both when the monkey sees a certain action and when it
performs that same action (Rizzolatti, Fogassi, & Gallese, 2001). In humans,
however, things are a bit more complex. In many everyday settings, people
perceive uncountable behaviors and fortunately dont copy all of them (just
consider walking in a crowdhundreds of your mirror neurons would fire in a
blaze of confusion). Human imitation and mirroring is selective, triggering
primarily actions that are relevant to the perceivers current state or aim.
Automatic empathy builds on imitation and synchrony in a clever way. If
Bill is sad and expresses this emotion in his face and body, and if Elena watches
or interacts with Bill, then she will subtly imitate his dejected behavior and,
through well-practiced associations of certain behaviors and emotions, she will
feel a little sad as well (Sonnby-Borgstrm, Jnsson, & Svensson, 2003). Thus,
she empathizes with himwhether she wants to or not. Try it yourself. Type
sad human faces into your Internet search engine and select images from
your results. Look at 20 photos and pay careful attention to what happens to
your face and to your mood. Do you feel almost a pull of some of your facial
muscles? Do you feel a tinge of melancholy?
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Joint Attention, Visual Perspective Taking

Going beyond the automatic, humans are capable of actively engaging with
other peoples mental states, such as when they enter into situations of joint
attentionlike Marissa and Noah, who are each looking at an object and are
both aware that each of them is looking at the object. This sounds more
complicated than it really is. Just point to an object when a 3-year old is around
and notice how both the child and you check in with each other, ensuring that
you are really jointly engaging with the object. Such shared engagement is
critical for children to learn the meaning of objectsboth their value (is it safe
and rewarding to approach?) and the words that refer to them (what do you
call this?). When I hold up my keyboard and show it to you, we are jointly
attending to it, and if I then say its called Tastatur in German, you know that
I am referring to the keyboard and not to the table on which it had been resting.
Another important capacity of engagement is visual perspective taking:
You are sitting at a dinner table and advise another person on where the salt
isdo you consider that it is to her left even though it is to your right? When
we overcome our egocentric perspective this way, we imaginatively adopt the
other persons spatial viewpoint and determine how the world looks from their
perspective. In fact, there is evidence that we mentally rotate toward the
others spatial location, because the farther away the person sits (e.g., 60, 90,
or 120 degrees away from you) the longer it takes to adopt the persons
perspective (Michelon & Zacks, 2006).
Projection, Simulation (and the Specter of Egocentrism)

When imagining what it might be like to be in another persons psychological
position, humans have to go beyond mental rotation. One tool to understand
the others thoughts or feelings is simulationusing ones own mental states
as a model for others mental states: What would it feel like sitting across from
923
the stern interrogator? I would feel scared . . . An even simpler form of such
modeling is the assumption that the other thinks, feels, wants what we do
which has been called the like-me assumption (Meltzoff, 2007) or the
inclination toward social projection(Krueger, 2007). In a sense, this is an
absence of perspective taking, because we assume that the others perspective
equals our own. This can be an effective strategy if we share with the other
person the same environment, background, knowledge, and goals, but it gets
us into trouble when this presumed common ground is in reality lacking. Lets
say you know that Brianna doesnt like Freds new curtains, but you hear her
exclaim to Fred, These are beautiful! Now you have to predict whether Fred
can figure out that Brianna was being sarcastic. It turns out that you will have
a hard time suppressing your own knowledge in this case and you may
overestimate how easy it is for Fred to spot the sarcasm (Keysar, 1994). Similarly,
you will overestimate how visible that pimple is on your chineven though it
feels big and ugly to you, in reality very few people will ever notice it (Gilovich
& Savitsky, 1999). So the next time when you spot a magnificent bird high up
in the tree and you get impatient with your friend who just cant see what is
clearly obvious, remember: its obvious to you.
What all these examples show is that people use their own current state
of knowledge, concern, or perceptionto grasp other peoples mental states.
And though they often do so correctly, they also get things wrong at times. This
is why couples counselors, political advisors, and Buddhists agree on at least
one thing: we all need to try harder to recognize our egocentrism and actively
take other peoples perspectivethat is, grasp their actual mental states, even
if (or especially when) they are different from our own.
924
Explicit Mental State Inference

The ability to truly take another persons perspective requires that we separate
what we want, feel, and know from what the other person is likely to want, feel,
and know. To do so humans make use of a variety of information. For one thing,
they rely on stored knowledgeboth general knowledge (Everybody would be
nervous when threatened by a man with a gun) and agent-specific knowledge
(Joe was fearless because he was trained in martial arts). For another, they
critically rely on perceived facts of the concrete situationsuch as what is
happening to the agent, the agents facial expressions and behaviors, and what
the person saw or didnt see.
This capacity of integrating multiple lines of information into a mental-state
inference develops steadily within the first few years or life, and this process
has led to a substantial body of research (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). The
research began with a clever experiment by Wimmer and Perner (1983), who
tested whether children can pass a false-belief test (see Figure 2). The child is
shown a picture story of Sally, who puts her ball in a basket and leaves the room.
While Sally is out of the room, Anne comes along and takes the ball from the
basket and puts it inside a box. The child is then asked where Sally thinks the
ball is located when she comes back to the room. Is she going to look first in
the box or in the basket?
The right answer is that she will look in the basket, because thats where she
put it and thinks it is; but we have to infer this false belief against our own better
knowledge that the ball is in the box. This is very difficult for children before
the age of 4, and it usually takes some cognitive effort in adults (Epley,
Morewedge, & Keysar, 2004).
The challenge is clear: People are good at automatically relating to other
people, using their own minds as a fitting model for others minds. But people
need to recognize when to step out of their own perspective and truly represent
the other persons perspectivewhich may harbor very different thoughts,
925
feelings, and intentions.
926
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re
2.
ildrens ability to infer false beliefs.
Tools in Summary
We have seen that the human understanding of other minds relies on many
tools. People process such information as motion, faces, and gestures and
categorize it into such concepts as agent, intentional action, or fear. They rely
on relatively automatic psychological processes, such as imitation, joint
attention, and projection. And they rely on more effortful processes, such as
simulation and mental-state inference. These processes all link behavior that
humans observe to mental states that humans infer. If we call this stunning
capacity a theory, it is a theory of mind and behavior.
Folk Explanations of Behavior

Nowhere is this mindbehavior link clearer than in peoples explanations of
behaviorwhen they try to understand why somebody acted or felt a certain
way. People have a strong need to answer such why questions, from the trivial
to the significant: why the neighbors teenage daughter is wearing a short skirt
in the middle of winter; why the policeman is suddenly so friendly; why the
murderer killed three people. The need to explain this last behavior seems
puzzling, because typical benefits of explanation are absent: We do not need
to predict or control the criminals behavior since we will never have anything
to do with him. Nonetheless, we have an insatiable desire to understand, to
find meaning in this persons behaviorand in peoples behavior generally.
Older theories of how people explain and understand behavior suggested
that people merely identify causes of the behavior (e.g., Kelley, 1967). That is
true for most unintentional behaviorstripping, having a headache, calling
someone by the wrong name. But to explain intentional behaviors, people use
928
a more sophisticated framework of interpretation, which follows directly from

their concept of intentionality and the associated mental states they infer (Malle,
2004). We have already mentioned the complexity of peoples concept of
intentionality; here it is in full (Malle & Knobe, 1997): For an agent to perform
a behavior intentionally, she must have a desire for an outcome (what we had
called a goal), beliefs about how a particular action leads to the outcome, and
an intention to perform that action; if the agent then actually performs the
action with awareness and skill, people take it to be an intentional action. To
explain why the agent performed the action, humans try to make the inverse
inference of what desire and what beliefs the agent had that led her to so act,
and these inferred desires and beliefs are the reasons for which she acted.
What was her reason for wearing a short skirt in the winter? She wanted to
annoy her mother. What was the policemans reason for suddenly being so
nice? He thought he was speaking with an influential politician. What was his
reason for killing three people? In fact, with such extreme actions, people are
often at a loss for an answer. If they do offer an answer, they frequently retreat
to causal history explanations (Malle, 1999), which step outside the agents
own reasoning and refer instead to more general background factsfor
example, that he was mentally ill or a member of an extremist group. But people
clearly prefer to explain others actions by referring to their beliefs and desires,
the specific reasons for which they acted.
By relying on a theory of mind, explanations of behavior make meaningful
what would otherwise be inexplicable motionsjust like in our initial example
of two persons passing some object between them. We recognize that the
customer wanted to pay and thats why she passed her credit card to the cashier,
who in turn knew that he was given a credit card and swiped it. It all seems
perfectly clear, almost trivial to us. But that is only because humans have a
theory of mind and use it to retrieve the relevant knowledge, simulate the other
peoples perspective, infer beliefs and desires, and explain what a given action
means. Humans do this effortlessly and often accurately. Moreover, they do it
929
within seconds or less. Whats so special about that? Well, it takes years for a
child to develop this capacity, and it took our species a few million years to
evolve it. Thats pretty special.
930
Outside Resources
Blog: On the debate about menstrual synchrony
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2011/11/16/menstrualsynchrony/
Blog: On the debates over mirror neurons
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/11/06/whats-so-special-aboutmirror-neurons/
Book: First and last chapters of Zunshine, L. (2006). Why we read fiction:
Theory of mind and the novel. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.
https://ohiostatepress.org/Books/Book PDFs/Zunshine Why.pdf
Movie: A movie that portrays the social difficulties of a person with autism:
Adam (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185836/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1
Video: Autism, theory of mind, and false-belief test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bsvm7q3lWo
Video: TED talk on autism
http://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds.
html
Video: TED talk on empathy
http://blog.ted.com/2011/04/18/a-radical-experiment-in-empathy-sam-richardsat-ted-com/
Video: TED talk on theory of mind and moral judgment

http://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_saxe_how_brains_make_moral_judgments.html
Video: Theory of mind development
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiT7HFj2gv4, http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YGSj2zY2OEM
1. Recall a situation in which you tried to infer what a person was thinking or
feeling but you just couldnt figure it out, and recall another situation in
which you tried the same but succeeded. Which tools were you able to use
in the successful case that you didnt or couldnt use in the failed case?
2. Mindfulness training improves keen awareness of ones own mental states.
Look up a few such training programs (easily found online) and develop a
similar training program to improve awareness of other peoples minds.
3. In the near future we will have robots that closely interact with people. Which
theory of mind tools should a robot definitely have? Which ones are less
important? Why?
4. Humans assume that everybody has the capacity to make choices and
perform intentional actions. But in a sense, a choice is just a series of brain
states, caused by previous brain states and states of the world, all governed
by the physical laws of the universe. Is the concept of choice an illusion?
5. The capacity to understand others minds is intimately related to another
unique human capacity: language. How might these two capacities have
evolved? Together? One before the other? Which one?
Vocabulary
Automatic empathy
A social perceiver unwittingly taking on the internal state of another person,
usually because of mimicking the persons expressive behavior and thereby
feeling the expressed emotion.
False-belief test
An experimental procedure that assesses whether a perceiver recognizes that
another person has a false beliefa belief that contradicts reality.
Folk explanations of behavior

Peoples natural explanations for why somebody did something, felt something,
etc. (differing substantially for unintentional and intentional behaviors).
Intention
An agents mental state of committing to perform an action that the agent
believes will bring about a desired outcome.
Intentionality
The quality of an agents performing a behavior intentionallythat is, with skill
and awareness and executing an intention (which is in turn based on a desire
and relevant beliefs).
Joint attention
Two people attending to the same object and being aware that they both are
attending to it.
Mimicry
Copying others behavior, usually without awareness.
Mirror neurons
Neurons identified in monkey brains that fire both when the monkey performs
a certain action and when it perceives another agent performing that action.
Projection
A social perceivers assumption that the other person wants, knows, or feels
the same as the perceiver wants, know, or feels.
Simulation
The process of representing the other persons mental state.
Synchrony
Two people displaying the same behaviors or having the same internal states
(typically because of mutual mimicry).
Theory of mind
The human capacity to understand minds, a capacity that is made up of a
collection of concepts (e.g., agent, intentionality) and processes (e.g., goal
detection, imitation, empathy, perspective taking).
Visual perspective taking

Can refer to visual perspective taking (perceiving something from another
persons spatial vantage point) or more generally to effortful mental state
inference (trying to infer the other persons thoughts, desires, emotions).
Reference List
Baird, J. A., & Baldwin, D. A. (2001). Making sense of human behavior: Action
parsing and intentional inference. In B. F. Malle, L. J. Moses, & D. A. Baldwin
(Eds.), Intentions and intentionality: Foundations of social cognition (pp.
193206). Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.
Baldwin, D. A., & Tomasello, M. (1998). Word learning: A window on early
pragmatic understanding. In E. V. Clark (Ed.), The proceedings of the twentyninth annual child language research forum (pp. 323). Chicago, IL: Center
for the Study of Language and Information.
Blackburn, J., Gottschewski, K., George, E., & L, N. (2000, May). A discussion
about theory of mind: From an autistic perspective. Proceedings of Autism
Europes 6th International Congress. Glasgow. Retrieved from http://
archive.autistics.org/library/AE2000-ToM.html.
Bogdan, R. (2000). Minding minds: Evolving a reflexing mind by interpreting
others. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception
behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social
Epley, N., Morewedge, C. K., & Keysar, B. (2004). Perspective taking in children
and adults: Equivalent egocentrism but differential correction. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 760768.
Gergely, G., Ndasdy, Z., Csibra, G., & Br, S. (1995). Taking the intentional stance
at 12 months of age. Cognition, 56, 165193.
Gilovich, T., & Savitsky, K. (1999). The spotlight effect and the illusion of
transparency: Egocentric assessments of how we are seen by others.
Guglielmo, S., Monroe, A. E., & Malle, B. F. (2009). At the heart of morality lies
folk psychology. Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, 52, 449
466.
Johnson, S. C. (2000). The recognition of mentalistic agents in infancy. Trends
in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 2228.
Kelley, H. H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.),
Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 15, pp. 192240). Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press.
Keysar, B. (1994). The illusory transparency of intention: Linguistic perspective
taking in text. Cognitive Psychology, 26, 165208.
Krueger, J. I. (2007). From social projection to social behaviour. European Review
of Social Psychology, 18, 135.
Levenson, R. W., & Ruef, A. M. (1992). Empathy: A physiological substrate. Journal
Malle, B. F. (2008). The fundamental tools, and possibly universals, of social
cognition. In R. M. Sorrentino & S. Yamaguchi (Eds.), Handbook of motivation
and cognition across cultures (pp. 267296). New York, NY: Elsevier/
Academic Press.
Malle, B. F. (2004). How the mind explains behavior: Folk explanations, meaning,
and social interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Malle, B. F. (1999). How people explain behavior: A new theoretical framework.
Malle, B. F., & Knobe, J. (1997). The folk concept of intentionality. Journal of
Meltzoff, A. N. (2007). Like me: A foundation for social cognition.
Developmental Science, 10, 126134.
Meltzoff, A. N., & Decety, J. (2003). What imitation tells us about social cognition:
A rapprochement between developmental psychology and cognitive
neuroscience. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
Series B: Biological Sciences, 358, 491500.
Michelon, P., & Zacks, J. M. (2006). Two kinds of visual perspective taking.
Perception & Psychophysics, 68, 327337.
Perner, J. (1991). Understanding the representational mind. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Premack, D. (1990). The infants theory of self-propelled objects. Cognition, 36,
116.
Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Neurophysiological mechanisms
underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nature Reviews
Sonnby-Borgstrm, M., Jnsson, P., & Svensson, O. (2003). Emotional empathy
as related to mimicry reactions at different levels of information processing.

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 323.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (2007). Evaluating the theory-of-mind hypothesis of autism.
Tomasello, M. (2003). The key is social cognition. In D. Gentner & S. GoldinMeadow (Eds.), Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and
thought (pp. 4757). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wellman, H. M. (1990). The childs theory of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind
development: The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72, 655684.
Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and
constraining function of wrong beliefs in young childrens understanding of
deception. Cognition, 13, 103128.
Woodward, A. L. (1998). Infants selectively encode the goal object of an actors
reach. Cognition, 69, 134.
Yang, Z., & Schank, J. C. (2006). Women do not synchronize their menstrual
cycles. Human Nature, 17, 433447.
Zhang, J., Hedden, T., & Chia, A. (2012). Perspective-taking and depth of theoryof-mind reasoning in sequential-move games. Cognitive Science, 36, 560
573.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Theory of Mind by Bertram Malle is licensed
deed.en_US.
Topic 6
Learning and Memory
Factors Influencing Learning

Aaron Benjamin
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Learning is a complex process that defies easy definition and description. This
chapter reviews some of the philosophical issues involved with defining learning
and describes in some detail the characteristics of learners and of encoding
activities that seem to affect how well people can acquire new memories,
knowledge, or skills. At the end, we consider a few basic principles that guide
whether a particular attempt at learning will be successful or not.
Learning Objectives
Consider what kinds of activities constitute learning.
Name multiple forms of learning.
List some individual differences that affect learning.
Describe the effect of various encoding activities on learning.
Describe three general principles of learning.
Introduction
What do you do when studying for an exam? Do you read your class notes and
textbook (hopefully not for the very first time)? Do you try to find a quiet place
without distraction? Do you use flash cards to test your knowledge? The choices
you make reveal your theory of learning, but there is no reason for you to limit
yourself to your own intuitions. There is a vast and vibrant science of learning,
in which researchers from psychology, education, and neuroscience study basic
principles of learning and memory.
In fact, learning is a much broader domain than you might think. Consider:
Is listening to music a form of learning? More often, it seems listening to music
is a way of avoiding learning. But we know that your brains response to auditory
information changes with your experience with that information, a form of
learning called auditory perceptual learning (Polley, Steinberg, & Merzenich,
2006). Each time we listen to a song, we hear it differently because of our
experience. When we exhibit changes in behavior without having intended to
learn something, that is called implicit learning (Seger, 1994), and when we
exhibit changes in our behavior that reveal the influence of past experience
even though we are not attempting to use that experience, that is called implicit
memory (Richardson-Klavehn & Bjork, 1988). These topics will be covered in
the chapter on Memory.
Other well-studied forms of learning include the types of learning that are
general across species. We cant ask a slug to learn a poem or a lemur to learn
to bat left-handed, but we can assess learning in other ways. For example, we
can look for a change in our responses to things when we are repeatedly
stimulated. If you live in a house with a grandfather clock, you know that what
was once an annoying and intrusive sound is now probably barely audible to
you. Similarly, poking an earthworm again and again is likely to lead to a
reduction in its retraction from your touch. These phenomena are forms of
nobaproject.com - Factors Influencing Learning
946
nonassociative learning, in which single repeated exposure leads to a change

in behavior (Pinsker, Kupfermann, Castelluci, & Kandel, 1970). When our
response lessens with exposure, it is called habituation, and when it increases
(like it might with a particularly annoying laugh), it is called sensitization.
Animals can also learn about relationships between things, such as when an
alley cat learns that the sound of janitors working in a restaurant precedes the
dumping of delicious new garbage (an example of stimulus-stimulus learning
called classical conditioning), or when a dog learns to roll over to get a treat (a
form of stimulus-response learning called operant conditioning). These forms
of learning will be covered in the chapter on Conditioning.
Here, well review some of the conditions that affect learning, with an eye
toward the type of explicit learning we do when trying to learn something.
Jenkins (1979) classified experiments on learning and memory into four groups
of factors (renamed here): learners, encoding activities, materials, and retrieval.
In this chapter, well focus on the first two categories; the chapter on Memory
will consider other factors more generally.
Learners
People bring numerous individual differences with them into memory
experiments, and many of these variables affect learning. In the classroom,
motivation matters (Pintrich, 2003), though experimental attempts to induce
motivation with money yield only modest benefits (Heyer & OKelly, 1949).
Learners are, however, quite able to allocate more effort to learning prioritized
over unimportant materials (Castel, Benjamin, Craik, & Watkins, 2002).
In addition, the organization and planning skills that a learner exhibits matter
a lot (Garavalia & Gredler, 2002), suggesting that the efficiency with which one
organizes self-guided learning is an important component of learning. We will
return to this topic soon.
947
One well-studied and important variable is working memory capacity.

Working memory describes the form of memory we use to hold onto
information temporarily. Working memory is used, for example, to keep track
of where we are in the course of a complicated math problem, and what the
relevant outcomes of prior steps in that problem are. Higher scores on working
memory measures are predictive of better reasoning skills (Kyllonen & Christal,
1990), reading comprehension (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980), and even better
control of attention (Kane, Conway, Hambrick, & Engle, 2008).
Anxiety also affects the quality of learning. For example, people with math
anxiety have a smaller capacity for remembering math-related information in
working memory, such as the results of carrying a digit in arithmetic (Ashcraft
& Kirk, 2001). Having students write about their specific anxiety seems to reduce
the worry associated with tests and increases performance on math tests
(Ramirez & Beilock, 2011).
One good place to end this discussion is to consider the role of expertise.
Though there probably is a finite capacity on our ability to store information
(Landauer, 1986), in practice, this concept is misleading. In fact, because the
usual bottleneck to remembering something is our ability to access information,
not our space to store it, having more knowledge or expertise actually enhances
our ability to learn new information. A classic example can be seen in comparing
a chess master with a chess novice on their ability to learn and remember the
positions of pieces on a chessboard (Chase & Simon, 1973). In that experiment,
the master remembered the location of many more pieces than the novice,
even after only a very short glance. Maybe chess masters are just smarter than
the average chess beginner, and have better memory? No: The advantage the
expert exhibited only was apparent when the pieces were arranged in a
plausible format for an ongoing chess game; when the pieces were placed
randomly, both groups did equivalently poorly. Expertise allowed the master
to chunk (Simon, 1974) multiple pieces into a smaller number of pieces of
informationbut only when that information was structured in such a way so
948
as to allow the application of that expertise.
Encoding Activities
What we do when were learning is very important. Weve all had the experience
of reading something and suddenly coming to the realization that we dont
remember a single thing, even the sentence that we just read. How we go about
encoding information determines a lot about how much we remember.
You might think that the most important thing is to try to learn. Interestingly,
this is not true, at least not completely. Trying to learn a list of words, as
compared to just evaluating each word for its part of speech (i.e., noun, verb,
adjective) does help you recall the wordsthat is, it helps you remember and
write down more of the words later. But it actually impairs your ability to
recognize the wordsto judge on a later list which words are the ones that you
studied (Eagle & Leiter, 1964). So this is a case in which incidental learning
that is, learning without the intention to learnis better than intentional
learning.
Such examples are not particularly rare and are not limited to recognition.
Nairne, Pandeirada, and Thompson (2008) showed, for example, that survival
processingthinking about and rating each word in a list for its relevance in a
survival scenarioled to much higher recall than intentional learning (and also
higher, in fact, than other encoding activities that are also known to lead to high
levels of recall). Clearly, merely intending to learn something is not enough.
How a learner actively processes the material plays a large role; for example,
reading words and evaluating their meaning leads to better learning than
reading them and evaluating the way that the words look or sound (Craik &
Lockhart, 1972). These results suggest that individual differences in motivation
will not have a large effect on learning unless learners also have accurate ideas
about how to effectively learn material when they care to do so.
949
So, do learners know how to effectively encode material? People allowed to

allocate freely their time to study a list of words do remember those words
better than a group that doesnt have control over their own study time, though
the advantage is relatively small and is limited to the subset of learners who
choose to spend more time on the more difficult material (Tullis & Benjamin,
2011). In addition, learners who have an opportunity to review materials that
they select for restudy often learn more than another group that is asked to
restudy the materials that they didnt select for restudy (Kornell & Metcalfe,
2006). However, this advantage also appears to be relatively modest (Kimball,
Smith, & Muntean, 2012) and wasnt apparent in a group of older learners (Tullis
& Benjamin, 2012). Taken together, all of the evidence seems to support the
claim that self-control of learning can be effective, but only when learners have
good ideas about what an effective learning strategy is.
One factor that appears to have a big effect and that learners do not always
appear to understand is the effect of scheduling repetitions of study. If you are
studying for a final exam next week and plan to spend a total of five hours, what
is the best way to distribute your study? The evidence is clear that spacing ones
repetitions apart in time is superior than massing them all together (Baddeley
& Longman, 1978; Bahrick, Bahrick, Bahrick, & Bahrick, 1993; Melton, 1967).
Increasing the spacing between consecutive presentations appears to benefit
learning yet further (Landauer & Bjork, 1978).
A similar advantage is evident for the practice of interleaving multiple skills
to be learned: For example, baseball batters improved more when they faced
a mix of different types of pitches than when they faced the same pitches
blocked by type (Hall, Domingues, & Cavazos, 1994). Students also showed
better performance on a test when different types of mathematics problems
were interleaved rather than blocked during learning (Taylor & Rohrer, 2010).
950
One final factor that merits discussion is the role of testing. Educators and
students often think about testing as a way of assessing knowledge, and this is
indeed an important use of tests. But tests themselves affect memory, because
retrieval is one of the most powerful ways of enhancing learning (Roediger &
Butler, 2013). Self-testing is an underutilized and potent means of making
learning more durable.
General Principles of Learning

Weve only begun to scratch the surface here of the many variables that affect
the quality and content of learning (Mullin, Herrmann, & Searleman, 1993). But
even within this brief examination of the differences between people and the
activities they engage in can we see some basic principles of the learning
process.
The value of effective metacognition

To be able to guide our own learning effectively, we must be able to evaluate
the progress of our learning accurately and choose activities that enhance
learning efficiently. It is of little use to study for a long time if a student cannot
discern between what material she has or has not mastered, and if additional
study activities move her no closer to mastery. Metacognition describes the
knowledge and skills people have in monitoring and controlling their own
learning and memory. We can work to acquire better metacognition by paying
attention to our successes and failures in estimating what we do and dont
know, and by using testing often to monitor our progress.
951
Transfer-appropriate processing
Sometimes, it doesnt make sense to talk about whether a particular encoding
activity is good or bad for learning. Rather, we can talk about whether that
activity is good for learning as revealed by a particular test. For example,
although reading words for meaning leads to better performance on a test of
recall or recognition than paying attention to the pronunciation of the word, it
leads to worse performance on a test that taps knowledge of that pronunciation,
such as whether a previously studied word rhymes with another word (Morris,
Bransford, & Franks, 1977). The principle of transfer-appropriate processing
states that memory is better when the test taps the same type of knowledge
as the original encoding activity. When thinking about how to learn material,
we should always be thinking about the situations in which we are likely to need
access to that material. An emergency responder who needs access to learned
procedures under conditions of great stress should learn differently from a
hobbyist learning to use a new digital camera.
The value of forgetting

Forgetting is sometimes seen as the enemy of learning, but, in fact, forgetting
is a highly desirable part of the learning process. The main bottleneck we face
in using our knowledge is being able to access it. We have all had the experience
of retrieval failurethat is, not being able to remember a piece of information
that we know we have, and that we can access easily once the right set of cues
is provided. Because access is difficult, it is important to jettison information
that is not neededthat is, to forget it. Without forgetting, our minds would
become cluttered with out-of-date or irrelevant information. And, just imagine
how complicated life would be if we were unable to forget the names of past
acquaintances, teachers, or romantic partners.
952
But the value of forgetting is even greater than that. There is lots of evidence
that some forgetting is a prerequisite for more learning. For example, the
previously discussed benefits of distributing practice opportunities may arise
in part because of the greater forgetting that takes places between those spaced
learning events. It is for this reason that some encoding activities that are
difficult and lead to the appearance of slow learning actually lead to superior
learning in the long run (Bjork, 2011). When we opt for learning activities that
enhance learning quickly, we must be aware that these are not always the same
techniques that lead to durable, long-term learning.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, lets think back to the questions we began the chapter with.
What might you now do differently when preparing for an exam? Hopefully, you
will think about testing yourself frequently, developing an accurate sense of
what you do and do not know, how you are likely to use the knowledge, and
using the scheduling of tasks to your advantage. If you are learning a new skill
or new material, using the scientific study of learning as a basis for the study
and practice decisions you make is a good bet.
953
1. How would you best design a computer program to help someone learn a
new foreign language? Think about some of the principles of learning
outlined in this chapter and how those principles could be instantiated in
rules in a computer program.
2. Would you rather have a really good memory or really good metacognition?
How might you train someone to develop better metacognition if he or she
doesnt have a very good memory, and what would be the consequences
of that training?
3. In what kinds of situations not discussed here might you find a benefit of
forgetting on learning?
Vocabulary
Chunk
The process of grouping information together using our knowledge.
Classical conditioning
Describes stimulus-stimulus associative learning.
Encoding
The pact of putting information into memory.
Habituation
Occurs when the response to a stimulus decreases with exposure.
Implicit learning
Occurs when we acquire information without intent that we cannot easily
express.
Implicit memory
Memory tests in which the effect of prior experiences is measured in a context
in which the subject is not instructed to remember those prior experiences.
Incidental learning
Any type of learning that happens without the intention to learn.
Intentional learning
Any type of learning that happens when motivated by intention.
Metacognition
Describes the knowledge and skills people have in monitoring and controlling
their own learning and memory.
Nonassociative learning
Occurs when a single repeated exposure leads to a change in behavior.
Operant conditioning
Describes stimulus-response associative learning.
Perceptual learning
Occurs when aspects of our perception changes as a function of experience.
Sensitization
Occurs when the response to a stimulus increases with exposure
Transfer-appropriate processing
A principle that states that memory performance is superior when a test taps
the same cognitive processes as the original encoding activity.
Working memory
The form of memory we use to hold onto information temporarily, usually for
the purposes of manipulation.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Factors Influencing Learning by Aaron Benjamin
Conditioning and Learning

Mark E. Bouton
University of Vermont
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Basic principles of learning are always operating and always influencing human
behavior. This chapter discusses the two very fundamental forms of learning
that are represented in classical (Pavlovian) and instrumental (operant)
conditioning. Through them, we respectively learn to associate (1.) stimuli in
the environment or (2.) our own behaviors with significant events such as
rewards and punishers. The two types of learning have been intensively studied
because they have powerful effects on behavior and because they provide
methods that allow scientists to analyze learning processes rigorously. This
chapter describes some of the most important things you need to know about
classical and instrumental conditioning, and it illustrates some of the many
ways they help us understand normal and disordered behavior in humans.
Learning Objectives
Distinguish between classical (Pavlovian) conditioning and instrumental

(operant) conditioning.
Understand some important facts about each that tell us how they work.
Understand how they work separately and together to influence human

behavior in the world outside the laboratory.
Two Types of Conditioning

Around the turn of the 20th century, scientists who were interested in
understanding the behavior of animals and humans began to appreciate the
importance of two very basic forms of learning. One, which was first studied
by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, is known as classical or Pavlovian
conditioning. In his famous experiment, Pavlov rang a bell and then gave a dog
some food. Once the bell and food had been paired a few times, the dog treated
the bell as a signal for food: The dog began salivating at the sound of the bell.
This kind of result has been shown in the lab with a wide range of signals (e.g.,
tones, light, tastes, places) and with many different signaled events besides
food (e.g., drugs, shocks, illness; see below). We now think that the same learning
process is engaged, for example, when humans associate a drug theyve taken
with the environment in which theyve taken it, when they associate a stimulus
(e.g., a crowded bus) with an emotional event (like a sudden panic attack), and
when they associate the flavor of a food with getting food poisoning some time
later. Pavlovian conditioning is still widely studied for at least two reasons. First,
it is a representative case in which an organism learns to associate two events,
and it therefore provides a rigorous method for studying associative learning.
Second, because Pavlovian conditioning is always occurring in our lives, its
effects on behavior have important implications for understanding normal and
disordered behavior in humans.
In a general way, Pavlovian conditioning occurs whenever neutral stimuli
are associated with a psychologically significant event. The events in the
experiment are often described using terms that make it possible to apply them
to any situation. The food in Pavlovs experiment is called the unconditioned
stimulus (US) because it elicits salivation unconditionally, before the
experiment begins. The bell is called the conditioned stimulus (CS) because its
ability to elicit the response is conditional on (depends on) its pairings with food.
In a corresponding way, the new (learned) response to the bell is called the
nobaproject.com - Conditioning and Learning
966
conditioned response (CR), and the natural response to the food itself is the
unconditioned response (UR). Modern studies of classical conditioning use a
very wide range of CSs and USs and measure a wide range of conditioned
responses.
The second form of conditioning was first studied by Edward Thorndike and
later extended by B. F. Skinner. It is known as instrumental or operant
conditioning. This form of conditioning occurs when a behavior is associated
with the occurrence of a significant event. In the best-known example, a rat
learns to press a lever in a box in the laboratory (a Skinner box) when leverpressing produces food pellets. The behavior is an operant because it
operates on the environment; it is also instrumental for making the food occur.
The food pellet is called a reinforcer, because it strengthens the response it is
made a consequence of. (A reinforcer is any event that does this.) Operant
conditioning research studies how the effects of a behavior influence the
probability it will occur again. According to the law of effect, when a behavior
has a positive (satisfying) effect or consequence, it is likely to be repeated in the
future. When a behavior has a negative (annoying) consequence, it is less likely
to be repeated in the future. Effects that increase behaviors are reinforcers;
effects that decrease them are punishers.
An important idea behind the study of operant conditioning is that it
provides a method for studying how consequences influence voluntary
behavior. The rats lever-pressing for food is voluntary in the sense that the rat
is free to make and repeat the response whenever it wants to. No one forces it
to lever-press, and there is no stimulus, like Pavlovs bell, that directly causes it
to occur. One of the lessons of operant conditioning research, though, is that
voluntary behavior is strongly influenced by its consequences.
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The cartoon at left summarizes the basic elements of classical and

instrumental conditioning. The two types of learning differ in many ways.
However, modern thinkers often emphasize the fact that they differ, as
emphasized here, in what is learned. In classical conditioning, the animal
behaves as if it has learned to associate a stimulus with a significant event. In
operant conditioning, the animal behaves as if it has learned to associate a
behavior with a significant event. Another difference is that the response in the
Pavlovian situation (e.g., salivation) is elicited by a stimulus that comes before
it, whereas the response in the operant case is not elicited by any particular
stimulus. Instead, operant responses are said to be emitted. The word emitted
further captures the idea that operants are essentially voluntary in nature.
Understanding classical and operant conditioning provides psychologists
with many tools for understanding learning and behavior in the world outside
the lab. This is in part because the two types of learning are occurring
continuously throughout our lives. It has been said that much like the laws of
gravity, the laws of learning are always in effect (Spreat & Spreat, 1982).
968
Useful Things to Know about Pavlovian Conditioning

Pavlovian Conditioning Has Many Effects on Behavior
A Pavlovian CS does not merely elicit a simple, unitary reflex. Pavlov emphasized
salivation because that was the only response he measured. But his bell almost
certainly elicited a whole system of responses that functioned to get the
organism ready for the upcoming US (food) (see Timberlake, 2001). For example,
in addition to salivation, CSs that signal food elicit the secretion of gastric acid,
pancreatic enzymes, and insulin (which gets blood glucose into cells). All of
these responses prepare the body for digestion. The CS also elicits approach
behavior and a state of excitement. And presenting a CS for food can also cause
animals whose stomachs are full to eat more food if it is available. Food CSs
are prevalent in modern society, and humans can likewise eat or feel hungry in
response to cues associated with food, such as the sight and feel of a bag of
potato chips, the sight of a restaurant logo (like the Golden Arches), or the couch
in front of the television.
Classical conditioning is also involved in other aspects of eating. Flavors
associated with a nutrient (such as sugar, starch, calories, or proteins) become
preferred or liked. Here the flavor is the CS and the nutrient is the US. In a
complementary way, flavors associated with stomach upset or illness become
avoided and disliked. For example, a person who gets sick after drinking too
much tequila may learn a profound dislike of the taste and odor of tequilaa
phenomenon called taste aversion conditioning. The fact that flavors can be
associated with so many consequences of eating is important for animals
(including rats and humans) that often need to learn about new foods. And it
is clinically relevant. For example, drugs used in chemotherapy often make
cancer patients sick. As a consequence, patients often learn aversions to a food
that was eaten recently, or to the chemotherapy clinic itself (see Bernstein, 1991;
Scalera & Bavieri, 2009).
969
Pavlovian conditioning occurs with many other significant events. If an

experimenter sounds a tone just before applying a mild shock to a rats feet,
the tone will elicit fear or anxiety after one or two pairings. Similar fear
conditioning plays a role in creating many anxiety disorders in humans, such
as phobias and panic disorders, where people associate cues (like closed spaces
or a shopping mall) with panic or other emotional trauma (see Mineka & Zinbarg,
2006). Here, the CS comes to trigger an emotion. Pavlovian conditioning can
also occur whenever we ingest drugs. That is, whenever a drug is taken, it can
be associated with the cues that are present at the same time (e.g., rooms,
odors, drug paraphernalia). Drug cues have an interesting property: They elicit
responses that often compensate for the upcoming effect of the drug (see
Siegel, 1989). For example, morphine suppresses pain, but the response elicited
by cues associated with morphine make us more sensitive to pain. Such
conditioned compensatory responses decrease the impact of the drug on the
body. This has many implications. A drug user will be most tolerant to the
drug in the presence of cues that have been associated with the drug (because
they elicit compensatory responses). Overdose is therefore more likely if the
drug is taken in the absence of those cues (see Siegel, Hinson, Krank, & McCully,
1982). Conditioned compensatory responses (which include heightened pain
sensitivity and decreased body temperature, among others) might also be
uncomfortable and motivate the drug user to take the drug to reduce them.
This is one of several ways in which Pavlovian conditioning might be involved
in drug addiction and dependence.
A final effect of Pavlovian cues is that they motivate ongoing operant
behavior (see Balleine, 2005). In the presence of drug-associated cues, a rat will
work harder (lever-press more) for a drug reinforcer. In the presence of foodassociated cues, a rat (or an overeater) will work harder for food. And in the
presence of fear cues, a rat (or a human with an anxiety disorder) will work
harder to avoid situations that might lead to trauma. Pavlovian CSs thus have
many effects that can contribute to important behavioral phenomena.
970
The Learning Process

As mentioned earlier, Pavlovian conditioning provides a method to study basic
learning processes. Somewhat counterintuitively, studies show that pairing a
CS and a US together is not sufficient for an association to be learned between
them. Consider an effect called blocking (see Kamin, 1969). In this effect, an
animal first learns to associate one CS, call it stimulus A, with a US. In the cartoon
below, the sound of a bell is paired with food. Once the association is learned,
in a second phase, a second stimulus B is presented along with A, and the two
stimuli are paired with the US together. In the cartoon, a light is added and
turned on with the bell. Surprisingly, tests of conditioned responding to B alone
then show that the animal has learned very little about B. The earlier
conditioning of A blocks conditioning of B when B is merely added to A. The
reason? Stimulus A already predicts the US, so the US is not surprising when it
occurs with Stimulus B. Learning depends on such a surprise, or a discrepancy
between what occurs on a conditioning trial and what is already predicted by
cues that are present on the trial. To learn something in Pavlovian learning,
there must first be some prediction error.
Blocking and other related effects indicate that the learning process tends
to discover the most valid predictors of significant events and ignore the less
useful ones. This is common in the real world. For example, Americans often
fail to learn the color of a Canadian $20 bill when they take a trip and handle
money in Canada. In America, the most valid predictor of the value of the $20
971
bill is perhaps the number that is printed on it. In Canada, the number occurs
together with a unique color. Because of blocking, Americans often dont learn
the color of the $20 bill. (It turns out that the Canadian $20 bill is green.) The
number gives them all the information they need; there is no prediction error
for the learning process to correct.
Classical conditioning is strongest if the CS and US are intense or salient. It
is also best if the CS and US are relatively new and the organism hasnt been
exposed to them a lot before. It is also especially strong if the organisms biology
has prepared it to associate a particular CS and US. For example, rats and
humans are naturally inclined to associate an illness with a flavor, rather than
with a light or tone. (This sorting tendency, which is set up by evolution, is called
preparedness.) There are many factors that affect the strength of classical
conditioning, and these have been the subject of much research and theory
(see Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Pearce & Bouton, 2001). Behavioral
neuroscientists have also used classical conditioning to investigate many of the
basic brain processes that are involved in learning (see Fanselow & Poulos,
2005; Thompson & Steinmetz, 2009).
Erasing Pavlovian Learning

After conditioning, the response to the CS can be eliminated if the CS is
presented repeatedly without the US. This effect is called extinction, and the
response is said to become extinguished. Extinction is important for many
reasons. For one thing, it is the basis for many therapies that clinical
psychologists use to eliminate maladaptive and unwanted behaviors. For
instance, a person who has a debilitating fear of spiders will be systematically
exposed to spiders (without a traumatic US) to gradually extinguish the fear.
Here, the spider is a CS, and repeated exposure to it without an aversive
consequence causes extinction.
972
Realistic use of extinction in the clinic must accept one important fact about
it, however. This is that extinction does not necessarily destroy the original
learning (see Bouton, 2004). For example, if time is allowed to pass after
extinction has occurred, presentation of the CS can evoke some responding
again. This is called spontaneous recovery. Another important phenomenon
is the renewal effect: After extinction, if the CS is tested in a new context, such
as a different room or location, responding can also return. These effects have
been interpreted to suggest that extinction inhibits rather than erases the
learned behavior, and this inhibition is mainly expressed in the context in which
it is learned (see context in the Key Vocabulary section below).
This does not mean that extinction is a bad treatment for behavior disorders.
Instead, clinicians can make it effective by using basic research on learning to
help defeat these relapse effects (see Craske et al., 2008). For example, if
extinction therapies are conducted in the contexts where a person might be in
most danger of relapsing (at work, for example), the success of therapy can be
enhanced.
Useful Things to Know about Instrumental Conditioning

Most of the things that affect the strength of Pavlovian conditioning also affect
the strength of instrumental learning, where we learn to associate our actions
with their outcomes. As before, the bigger the reinforcer (or punisher), the
stronger the learning. And if an instrumental behavior is no longer reinforced,
it will also extinguish. Most of the rules of associative learning that apply to
classical conditioning also apply to instrumental learning. But other facts about
instrumental learning are also worth knowing.
973
Instrumental Responses Come Under Stimulus Control

As you know, the classic operant response in the laboratory is lever-pressing in
rats reinforced by food. However, things can be arranged so that lever-pressing
only produces pellets when a particular stimulus is present. For example, leverpressing can be reinforced only when a light in the Skinner box is turned on
when the light is off, lever-pressing is not reinforced. The rat soon learns to
discriminate the light-on and light-off conditions, and responds only in the
presence of the light (responses in light-off are extinguished). The operant is
now said to be under stimulus control. In the real world, stimulus control is
probably the rule. For example, different behaviors are reinforced while you
are in a classroom, at the beach, or at a party, and your behavior adjusts
accordingly.
The stimulus controlling the operant response is called a discriminative
stimulus. It can be associated directly with the response or the reinforcer (see
below). However, it usually does not elicit the response the way a Pavlovian CS
does. Instead, it is said to set the occasion for the operant response. For
example, a canvas put in front of an artist does not elicit painting behavior or
compel her to paint. It allows, or sets the occasion for, painting to occur.
Stimulus-control techniques are widely used in the laboratory to study
perception and other psychological processes in animals. Notice that the rat in
the situation described above would not be able to respond appropriately in
light-on and light-off conditions if it could not see the light. Using this logic,
experiments using stimulus-control methods have tested how well animals can
see colors, hear ultrasounds, and detect magnetic fields, for example. The
methods can also be used to study higher cognitive processes. For example,
pigeons can learn to peck at different buttons in a Skinner box when pictures
of flowers, cars, chairs, or people are shown on a miniature TV screen (see
Wasserman, 1995). Pecking button 1 (and no other) is reinforced in the presence
of an image of flowers, pecking button 2 (and no other) is reinforced in the
974
presence of a chair, and so on. Pigeons can learn the discrimination readily,
and under the right conditions, they will also peck the correct button when
shown pictures of new flowers, cars, chairs, and people that they have never
seen before. The birds have learned to categorize the sets of stimuli. Stimuluscontrol methods can be used to study how such categorization is learned.
Operant Conditioning Involves Choice
Another thing to know about operant conditioning is that making the response
always requires you to choose that behavior over others. The student who
drinks beer on Thursday nights chooses to drink instead of staying at home
and studying with his girlfriend. The rat chooses to press the lever instead of
sleeping or scratching its ear in the back of the box. The alternative behaviors
are each associated with their own reinforcers. And the tendency to perform a
particular action depends exquisitely on both the reinforcers earned for it and
the reinforcers earned for its alternatives.
975
To investigate this idea, choice has been studied in the Skinner box by making
two levers available for the rat (or two buttons available for the pigeon), each
of which has its own reinforcement or payoff rate. A thorough study of choice
in situations like this has led to a rule called the quantitative law of effect (see
Herrnstein, 1970), which can be understood without going into quantitative
detail. The law acknowledges the fact that the effects of reinforcing one behavior
depend crucially on how much reinforcement is earned for the behaviors
alternatives. In general, a given reinforcer will be less reinforcing if there are
many alternative reinforcers in the environment. For this reason, alcohol, sex,
or drugs may be less likely to be extremely powerful reinforcers, and create
risky excesses in behavior, if a persons environment is also full of other sources
of reinforcement.
Cognition in Instrumental Learning

Modern research also indicates that reinforcers do more than merely
strengthen or stamp in the behaviors they are a consequence of. (This was
Thorndikes original view.) Instead, animals learn about the specific
consequences of each behavior, and will perform a behavior depending on how
much they currently wantor valueits consequence.
976
This idea is best illustrated by a phenomenon called the reinforcer

devaluation effect (see Colwill & Rescorla, 1986). A rat is first trained to perform
two instrumental actions (e.g., pressing a lever on the left and on the right),
each paired with a different reinforcer (e.g., a sweet sucrose solution or a food
pellet). At the end of this training, the rat presses both levers, back and forth.
In a second phase, one of the reinforcers (e.g., the sucrose) is then separately
paired with illness. This conditions a taste aversion to the sucrose. In a final
test, the rat is returned to the Skinner box and allowed to press either lever
freely. No reinforcers are presented during this test, so behavior during testing
can only result from the rats memory of what it learned before. Importantly,
the rat chooses not to perform the response that once produced the reinforcer
that it now has an aversion to. This means that the rat has learned and
remembered the reinforcer associated with each response, and can combine
that knowledge with the knowledge that the reinforcer is now bad. Reinforcers
do not merely stamp in responses; the animal learns much more than that. The
behavior is said to be goal-directed (see Dickinson & Balleine, 1994), because
it is influenced by the current value of its associated goal (the reinforcer).
Things are different, however, if the rat first performs the instrumental
actions frequently and repeatedly. Eventually, an action that depends on the
animals knowledge of the response-reinforcer association becomes automatic
and routine. That is, the goal-directed action can become a habit. One way we
977
know this is to repeat the reinforcer devaluation experiment just described with
instrumental responses that have been given extensive and repeated practice
(see Holland, 2004). After all the practice, the instrumental response is no longer
sensitive to reinforcer devaluation: Even after a strong aversion is learned to
sucrose, the rat continues to perform the response that used to produce it,
quite impervious to its past consequences! The rat just responds automatically.
Habits are very common in human experience. You do not need to think much
about how to make your coffee in the morning or how to brush your teeth.
Instrumental behaviors can eventually become habitual. This lets us get the job
done while being free to think about other things.
Putting Pavlovian and Instrumental Conditioning

Together
Pavlovian and operant conditioning are usually studied separately. But outside
the laboratory, they are almost always occurring at the same time. For example,
a person who is reinforced for drinking alcohol or eating excessively learns
these behaviors in the presence of certain stimulia pub, a set of friends, a
restaurant, or possibly the couch in front of the TV. These stimuli are also
available for association with the reinforcer. In this way, Pavlovian and operant
conditioning are always intertwined.
The figure below summarizes this idea, and helps review what we have
discussed in this chapter. Generally speaking, any reinforced or punished
operant behavior (R) is paired with an outcome (O) in the presence of some
stimulus or set of stimuli (S).
The figure illustrates the types of associations that can be learned in this
very general scenario. For one thing, the organism will learn to associate the
response and the outcome (R O). This is instrumental learning. The learning
process here is probably similar to the one in Pavlovian conditioning, with all
its emphasis on surprise and prediction error. And as we discussed while
978
considering the reinforcer devaluation effect, once R O is learned, the

organism will be ready to perform the response if the outcome is desired or
valued. The value of the reinforcer can also be influenced by other reinforcers
earned for other behaviors in the situation. These factors are at the heart of
instrumental learning.
Second, the organism can also learn to associate the stimulus with the
reinforcing outcome (S O). This is the Pavlovian conditioning component, and
as we have seen, it can have many consequences on behavior. For one thing,
the stimulus will come to evoke a system of responses that help the organism
prepare for the reinforcer (these are not shown in the figure). The drinker may
undergo changes in body temperature, and the eater may salivate and have an
increase in insulin secretion. In addition, the stimulus will evoke approach (if
the outcome is positive) or movement away (if the outcome is negative).
Presenting the stimulus will also motivate (invigorate) the instrumental
response.
The third association in the diagram is the one between the stimulus and
the response (S R). As discussed above, after a lot of practice, the stimulus
may begin to elicit the response directly. This is habit learning, where the
response occurs relatively automatically, without much mental processing of
979
the relation between the action and the outcome and the outcomes current
value.
The final link in the figure is one between the stimulus and the responseoutcome association [S (R O)]. More than just entering into a simple
association with the R or the O, the stimulus can signal that the R O relationship
is now in effect. This is what we mean when we say that the stimulus can set
the occasion for the operant response: It sets the occasion for the responsereinforcer relationship. Through this mechanism, the painter might begin to
paint when given the right tools and the opportunity enabled by the canvas.
The canvas theoretically signals that the behavior of painting will now be
reinforced by positive consequences.
The figure provides a framework that you can use to understand almost any
learned behavior you observe in yourself, your family, or your friends. If you
would like to understand it more deeply, consider taking a course on learning
in the future, which will give you a fuller appreciation of how Pavlovian learning,
instrumental learning, habit learning, and occasion setting actually work and
interact.
980
Outside Resources
Article: Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: Its not what you think
it is. American Psychologist, 43, 151160.
Book: Bouton, M. E. (2007). Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis.

Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
Book: Bouton, M. E. (2009). Learning theory. In B. J. Sadock, V. A. Sadock, & P.

Ruiz (Eds.), Kaplan & Sadocks comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (9th ed.,
Vol. 1, pp. 647658). New York, NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Book: Domjan, M. (2010). The principles of learning and behavior (6th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
1. Describe three examples of Pavlovian (classical) conditioning that you have
seen in your own behavior, or that of your friends or family, in the past few
days.
2. Describe three examples of instrumental (operant) conditioning that you

have seen in your own behavior, or that of your friends or family, in the past
few days.
3. Drugs can be potent reinforcers. Discuss how Pavlovian conditioning and

instrumental conditioning can work together to influence drug taking.
4. In the modern world, processed foods are highly available and have been
engineered to be highly palatable and reinforcing. Discuss how Pavlovian
and instrumental conditioning can work together to explain why people
often eat too much.
5. How does blocking challenge the idea that pairings of a CS and US are
sufficient to cause Pavlovian conditioning? What is important in creating
Pavlovian learning?
6. How does the reinforcer devaluation effect challenge the idea that
reinforcers merely stamp in the operant response? What does the effect
tell us that animals actually learn in operant conditioning?
Vocabulary
Blocking
In classical conditioning, the finding that no conditioning occurs to a stimulus
if it is combined with a previously conditioned stimulus during conditioning
trials. Suggests that information, surprise value, or prediction error is important
in conditioning.
Categorize
To sort or arrange different items into classes or categories.
Classical conditioning
The procedure in which an initially neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus,
or CS) is paired with and an unconditioned stimulus (or US). The result is that
the conditioned stimulus begins to elicit a conditioned response (CR). Classical
conditioning is nowadays considered important as both a behavioral
phenomenon and as a method to study simple associative learning. Same as
Pavlovian conditioning.
Conditioned compensatory response
In classical conditioning, a conditioned response that opposes, rather than is
the same as, the unconditioned response. It functions to reduce the strength
of the unconditioned response. Often seen in conditioning when drugs are used
as unconditioned stimuli.
Conditioned response (CR)
The response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus after classical
conditioning has taken place.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)

An initially neutral stimulus (like a bell, light, or tone) that elicits a conditioned
response after it has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus.
Context
Stimuli that are in the background whenever learning occurs. For instance, the
Skinner box or room in which learning takes place is the classic example of a
context. However, context can also be provided by internal stimuli, such as
the sensory effects of drugs (e.g., being under the influence of alcohol has
stimulus properties that provide a context) and mood states (e.g., being happy
or sad). It can also be provided by a specific period in timethe passage of time
is sometimes said to change the temporal context.
Discriminative stimulus
In operant conditioning, a stimulus that signals whether the response will be
reinforced. It is said to set the occasion for the operant response.
Extinction
Decrease in the strength of a learned behavior that occurs when the conditioned
stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus (in classical
conditioning) or when the behavior is no longer reinforced (in instrumental
conditioning). The term describes both the procedure (the US or reinforcer is
no longer presented) as well as the result of the procedure (the learned response
declines). Behaviors that have been reduced in strength through extinction are
said to be extinguished.
Fear conditioning
A type of classical or Pavlovian conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus
(CS) is associated with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), such as a foot
shock. As a consequence of learning, the CS comes to evoke fear. The
phenomenon is thought to be involved in the development of anxiety disorders

in humans.
Goal-directed behavior
Instrumental behavior that is influenced by the animals knowledge of the
association between the behavior and its consequence and the current value
of the consequence. Sensitive to the reinforcer devaluation effect.
Habit
Instrumental behavior that occurs automatically in the presence of a stimulus
and is no longer influenced by the animals knowledge of the value of the
reinforcer. Insensitive to the reinforcer devaluation effect.
Instrumental conditioning
Process in which animals learn about the relationship between their behaviors
and their consequences. Also known as operant conditioning.
Law of effect
The idea that instrumental or operant responses are influenced by their effects.
Responses that are followed by a pleasant state of affairs will be strengthened
and those that are followed by discomfort will be weakened. Nowadays, the
term refers to the idea that operant or instrumental behaviors are lawfully
controlled by their consequences.
Operant
A behavior that is controlled by its consequences. The simplest example is the
rats lever-pressing, which is controlled by the presentation of the reinforcer.
Operant conditioning
See instrumental conditioning.
Pavlovian conditioning
See classical conditioning.
Prediction error
When the outcome of a conditioning trial is different from that which is predicted
by the conditioned stimuli that are present on the trial (i.e., when the US is
surprising). Prediction error is necessary to create Pavlovian conditioning (and
associative learning generally). As learning occurs over repeated conditioning
trials, the conditioned stimulus increasingly predicts the unconditioned
stimulus, and prediction error declines. Conditioning works to correct or reduce
prediction error.
Preparedness
The idea that an organisms evolutionary history can make it easy to learn a
particular association. Because of preparedness, you are more likely to
associate the taste of tequila, and not the circumstances surrounding drinking
it, with getting sick. Similarly, humans are more likely to associate images of
spiders and snakes than flowers and mushrooms with aversive outcomes like
shocks.
Punisher
A stimulus that decreases the strength of an operant behavior when it is made
a consequence of the behavior.
Quantitative law of effect

A mathematical rule that states that the effectiveness of a reinforcer at
strengthening an operant response depends on the amount of reinforcement
earned for all alternative behaviors. A reinforcer is less effective if there is a lot
of reinforcement in the environment for other behaviors.
Reinforcer
Any consequence of a behavior that strengthens the behavior or increases the
likelihood that it will be performed it again.
Reinforcer devaluation effect
The finding that an animal will stop performing an instrumental response that
once led to a reinforcer if the reinforcer is separately made aversive or
undesirable.
Renewal effect
Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs when the context is changed
after extinction. Especially strong when the change of context involves return
to the context in which conditioning originally occurred. Can occur after
extinction in either classical or instrumental conditioning.
Spontaneous recovery
Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs with the passage of time after
extinction. Can occur after extinction in either classical or instrumental
conditioning.
Stimulus control
When an operant behavior is controlled by a stimulus that precedes it.
Taste aversion learning
The phenomenon in which a taste is paired with sickness, and this causes the
organism to rejectand dislikethat taste in the future.
Unconditioned response (UR)
In classical conditioning, an innate response that is elicited by a stimulus before
(or in the absence of) conditioning.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
In classical conditioning, the stimulus that elicits the response before
conditioning occurs.
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and theory (pp. 6499). New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
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(Eds.), Conditioned taste aversion: Behavioral and neural processes (pp.
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& M. Emmett-Oglesby (Eds.), Psychoactive drugs (pp. 115180). Clifton, NY:
Humana Press.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Conditioning and Learning by Mark E. Bouton
Memory (Encoding, Storage,

Retrieval)
Kathleen B. McDermott & Henry L. Roediger
Washington University in St. Louis
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Memory is a single term but it reflects a number of different abilitiesholding
information briefly while working with it (working memory), remembering
episodes of ones life (episodic memory), and our general knowledge of facts
of the world (semantic memory), among other types. Remembering episodes
involves three processes: encoding information (perceiving it and relating it to
past knowledge), storing it (maintaining it over time), and then retrieving it
(accessing the information when needed). Failures can occur at any stage,
leading to forgetting or to having false memories. The key to improving ones
memory is to improve processes of encoding and to use techniques that
guarantee effective retrieval. Good encoding techniques include relating new
information to what one already knows, forming mental images, and creating
associations among information that needs to be remembered. The key to good
retrieval is developing effective cues, ones that will lead the rememberer back
to the encoded information. Classic mnemonic systems, known since the time
of the ancient Greeks and still used by some today, can greatly improve ones
memory abilities.
Learning Objectives
Define and note differences between the following forms of memory:

working memory, episodic memory, semantic memory, collective memory.
Describe the three stages in the process of learning and remembering.
Describe strategies that can be used to enhance the original learning or

encoding of information.
Describe strategies that can improve the process of retrieval.
Describe why the classic mnemonic device of the method of loci works so
well.
Introduction
On a spring day in 2013, Simon Reinhard sat in a room at Washington University
in St. Louis with about 60 people in the audience. The task given to the group
was to remember digits, in particular increasingly long series of digits. On the
first round, a computer generated 10 random digits6 1 9 4 8 5 6 3 7 1on a
screen for 10 seconds. After the series disappeared, Simon typed them into his
computer while those in the audience wrote them on sheets of paper and
checked them against Simons answers on the screen. (The computer checked
Simon. He was perfect.) Simon asked how many people got them all correct; a
smattering of hands went up. In the next phase, 20 digits appeared on the
screen for 20 seconds. Simon got them all correct again. No one in the audience
(mostly professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students) recalled
the 20 digits perfectly. Then came 30 digits studied for 30 seconds; once again,
Simon got them all correct and no one else did. For a final trial, 50 digits appeared
on the screen for 50 seconds and again Simon got them all right while the people
in the audience watched in amazement. Simon would have been happy to keep
goinghis record in this task, called forward digit spanis 240 digits (and in
the case where he set this record, the situation was a bit more difficult because
the digits were read aloud at a one-second rate rather than seen on a screen).
When most of us witness a performance like that of Simon Reinhard, we
think one of two things: First, maybe hes cheating somehow. (No, he is not.)
Second, Simon must have completely different abilities from the rest of
humankind. After all, psychologists established many years ago that the normal
memory span for adults is about 7 digits, with some of us able to get a few more
and others of us getting a few less (Miller, 1956). That is why the first phone
numbers were limited to 7 digitspsychologists determined that many errors
were caused (costing the phone company money) when the number is
increased to even 8 digits. But in normal testing, no one gets 50 digits correct
in a row, much less 240. So does Simon Reinhard simply have a photographic
nobaproject.com - Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval)
996
memory? The answer is no. Simon has taught himself strategies for
remembering that have greatly increased his capacity for remembering digits
as well as for virtually any other type of materialwords, faces and names,
poetry, historical dates, and so on. Twelve years ago, before he started training
his memory abilities, he had a digit span of 7, just like most of us. Simon has
been training his abilities for about 10 years as of this writing and has risen to
be in the top two of memory athletes, as aficionados of this sport like to call
themselves. In 2012, he came in second in the World Memory Championships
(composed of 11 tasks) held in London. He currently ranks second in the world,
behind another German competitor, Johannes Mallow.
In this chapter, we reveal what psychologists and others have learned about
memory, and we will also give you the general principles by which you can
improve your own memory for factual material. At the end of the chapter, we
give you references that would permit you to learn much more about this topic
than we can cover in a brief chapter. First we provide an overview of types of
memory, because although we use a single termmemorywe often mean
quite different things by it.
Varieties of Memory
For most of us, remembering digits relies on short-term memory or working
memory, the ability to hold information in mind for a brief time and work with
it (e.g., multiplying 24 x 17 without using paper would rely on working memory).
Another type of memory is episodic memory, the ability to remember the
episodes of your life. If you were given the task of recalling everything you did
2 days ago, that would be a test of episodic memory; you would be required to
mentally travel through the day in your mind and note the main events of your
day. Semantic memory is your storehouse of more or less permanent
knowledge, the meanings of words in the language (e.g., the meaning of
parasol) and the huge collection of facts about the world (that Millard Fillmore
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was a U.S. President and that Benjamin Franklin was not). Collective memory
refers to the kind of memory that people in a group share (whether family,
community, schoolmates, citizens of a state or a country). People born and
raised in Texas often share a strong Texan identity; they collectively remember
the Alamo, the Battle of San Jacinto, Sam Houston, the 12 years when Texas
was an independent country, the fabled Texas Rangers, and so on. These items
and others constitute the collective memory of Texans.
The kinds of memories listed in the previous paragraphs represent only
some of the distinctions that psychologists make. This chapter is largely about
episodic memory, remembering the events in ones life. We shall refer to
relatively recent events; remembering the events across the course of ones
entire life (e.g., your year in sixth grade) is usually referred to as
autobiographical memory. Psychologists debate the classification of types of
memories and which ones rely on other types (Tulving, 2007), but for this
chapter we will focus on episodic memory, which is the type of memory that
most people have in mind when they hear the word memory. For example,
when people say that an older relative is losing her memory due to Alzheimers
disease, the type of memory loss they observe is the ability to remember events
or episodic memory. Semantic memory is actually preserved in early-stage
Alzheimers disease.
Three Stages of the Learning/Memory Process

Psychologists distinguish among three necessary stages in the learning and
memory process: encoding, storage, and retrieval (Melton, 1963). Encoding is
defined as initial learning of information; storage refers to maintaining
information over time; retrieval is the ability to access information when you
need it. If you meet someone for the first time at a party, you need to encode
her name (Lyn Goff) while you associate her name with her face. Then you need
to maintain the information over time. If you see her a week later, you need to
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recognize her face and have it serve as a cue to retrieve the name. Any successful
act of remembering requires that all three stages be intact. However, two types
of errors can also occur, as we are all too well aware. Forgetting is one type
you see the person you met at the party and you cannot recall her nameyou
just draw a blank. The other error is misremembering (false recall or false
recognition). You might see someone who looks like Lyn Goff and call the person
that name (false recognition of the face). Or you might see the real Lyn Goff,
recognize her face, but then call her the name of some other woman you met
at the party (misrecall her name).
Whenever forgetting or misremembering occurs, we can ask what stage in
the learning/memory process the failure occurred, although it is often difficult
to answer this question with precision. One reason for this ambiguity is that
the three stages are not as discrete as implied by our description above. Rather,
all three stages depend on one another. How we encode information
determines how it will be stored and what cues will be effective when we try to
retrieve it. The act of retrieval also changes the way information is subsequently
remembered, usually aiding later recall of the retrieved information. The central
point for now is that the three stages of encoding, storage, and retrieval affect
one another and are inextricably bound together.
Encoding
Encoding refers to the initial experience of perceiving and learning events.
Psychologists often study remembering by using tasks such as having students
study a list of pictures or words (although sentences, stories and videos are
also used). Encoding in these situations is usually straightforward, at least at
first glanceyou see some words but not others. However, in life encoding is
much more challenging. As you walk across campus, you see myriad sights and
soundsfriends pass by, as do strangers, people are off playing Frisbee on the
lawn, others are lying on the grass reading or talking, music is in the air and you
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recognize the song, which leads you to remember having heard the same song
at a party last week. The physical and mental environments are much too rich
for you to encode all the happenings and sights and sounds around you or the
internal thoughts you have in response to those sights and sounds. So an
important first principle of encoding is that it is selective: You attend to some
events in your environment and you ignore others. A second point about
encoding is that it is promiscuousyou are always encoding the events of your
life; every day is filled with events that you encode and can remember, at least
for a while. We attend to the world, trying to understand it. Normally this
presents no problem, as our days are filled with routine happenings. But if
something happens that seems strangeduring your daily walk across campus,
you see a giraffe off to the sidethen you pay close attention and try to
understand why you are seeing what you are seeing. You may ask a friend and
discover that people from the local zoo are visiting and trying to drum up student
volunteers. The giraffe came with them to help attract attention to the cause.
After your typical walk across campus from your dorm to class (one without
appearance of a giraffe), you would be able to remember the events reasonably
well if you were asked. You could say whom you bumped into and to whom you
said hello, what song was playing from a radio and so on. However, suppose
someone asked you to recall this particular journey a month later. You would
not have a chance. You could doubtless recall a typical walk across campus, but
not this particular walk (unless something distinctive had happened, like the
appearance of the giraffe). Yet if you did see a giraffe while you were walking
across campus, you would remember that event for a long time, perhaps for
the rest of your life. You would tell your friends about it and on later occasions
when you saw a giraffe, you might be reminded of that day one was on campus.
Psychologists have long pinpointed distinctivenesshaving an event stand
out as quite different from a background of similar eventsas a key to
remembering events (Hunt, 2003). In addition, when vivid memories are tinged
with strong emotional content, they often seem to leave an indelible mark on
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us. People who ran the Boston Marathon in 2013 have doubtless developed
vivid memories of the event.
Even those of us who were not directly involved in those events may have
vivid memories of the events, including memories of having first heard about
the event. For example, you may remember how you heard that there had been
a bombing at the marathon (e.g., where you were, who told you). The term
flashbulb memory was originally coined by Brown and Kulik (1977) to indicate
this sort of vivid memory of finding out an important piece of news, where the
memory seems to have been captured with the vividness of a photograph
illuminated with a flash. The moment that people received the news seems
etched in memory with great clarity. Later research has shown that although
people have great confidence in their memories of such emotional, distinctive
events, accuracy is far from perfect (Talarico & Rubin, 2003), so the great
confidence is somewhat misplaced. Nonetheless, all other things being equal,
distinctive events are well remembered.
Events do not leap from the world into a persons mind. We might say that
we went to a party and remember it, but what we remember is (at best) what
we encoded. As noted above, the process of encoding is selective and in complex
situations, relatively few of many possible happenings are attended to and
encoded. The process of encoding always involves recodingthat is, taking the
information from one form as it is given to us and then converting in a way that
makes sense to us. For example, you might try to remember the names of the
U.S. Great Lakes by memorizing the acronym HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan,
Erie, and Superior). The process of recoding the lakes into a single word can
help us to remember. However, recoding can also introduce errors when we
add material while encoding and then remember the new material as if it had
literally been presented (as discussed below).
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Psychologists have studied many recoding strategies that can be used during
study to improve retention. First, as we study, we should think of the meaning
of the events (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) and we should try to relate new events
to information we already know, to form associations that can help us retrieve
information later. Second, imagining events also makes them more memorable.
Creating vivid images of information (even verbal information) can greatly
improve later retention (Bower & Reitman, 1972). Imagery forms part of the
technique that Simon Reinhard uses to remember huge numbers of digits, but
we can all use images to encode information more effectively. The basic idea
behind good encoding tactics is to form distinctive memories (ones that stand
out) and to form links or associations among memories to help later retrieval.
Using these strategies together greatly aids retention of many sorts of material
(Hunt & McDaniel, 1993). It is effortful to use study strategies such as the ones
described here, but the effort is well worth it in terms of enhanced learning and
retention.
We emphasized earlier that encoding can be selectivepeople cannot
encode all information to which they are exposed. However, recoding can also
add information that was not seen or heard. Several of the techniques described
above, such as forming associations and making inferences, can happen
without our awareness. This is one reason why people can remember events
that were not literally there, because during the process of recoding we add the
events. One common way of inducing false memories in the laboratory employs
a word-list technique (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Students
heard lists of 15 words like door, glass, pane, shade, ledge, sill, house, open,
curtain, frame, view, breeze, sash, screen, and shutter. After hearing many such
lists, students were given a test in which they got words from the lists (e.g., door,
pane, frame) and words unrelated to any of the lists. One of the words on the
test was window, which was not studied but which was related to the words
that were. That is, many of the words in the list are associated to window
although that word is not in the list. When subjects were tested, the correctly
1002
recognized the studied words (door, etc.) 72% of the time. That seems
reasonably accurate. However, when window was on the test, they falsely
recognized it as having been on the list 84% of the time (Stadler, Roediger, &
McDermott, 1999). The same happened with many other lists the authors used,
and the phenomenon is referred to as the DRM (for Deese-RoedigerMcDermott) effect. One idea to explain such results is that while students
listened to items in the list, the items often triggered the students to think about
window even though window was never presented. In this way, people seem
to encode events that were not actually a part of their experience.
Because humans are creative, we are always going beyond the information
we are givenwe associate events, we make inferences about what is
happening. Sometimes we can remember the inferences we make as if the
inferred statements had actually been experienced. Brewer (1977) gave people
sentences to remember that were designed to elicit pragmatic inferences.
Consider The baby stayed awake all night and The karate champion hit the
cinder block. After hearing or seeing such sentences and being given a memory
test later, students tended to remember the statements as having been The
baby cried all night and The karate champion broke the cinder block. These
remembered statements are not logical inferences in that it is perfectly possible
that a karate champion could hit a cinder block without breaking it. Nonetheless,
the pragmatic conclusion from hearing such a sentence is that likely the block
was broken. Similarly, babies do not tend to stay awake all night without a fair
amount of crying, although this conclusion, too, is a pragmatic inference. It may
well be the meaning the speaker intended to convey, but if one looks strictly at
what was said, there was no crying involved. The students remembered the
inference they made while hearing the sentence as if it had actually occurred
(see too McDermott & Chan, 2006).
1003
Encodingthe initial registration of informationis important in the

learning and memory process. Unless an event is encoded in some fashion, it
will not be successfully remembered later. However, just because an event is
encoded (even encoded well) is no guarantee that it will be remembered later.
Storage
Every experience we have changes our brains. That seems a bold, maybe even
strange, claim at first sight, but it has to be true. We encode our experiences
and these experiences must be represented in the nervous system, so they
change it. Psychologists (and neurobiologists) say that experiences leave
memory traces or engrams (the two terms are synonyms). The basic idea is
that events create engrams through a process of consolidation, the neural
changes that occur after learning over time to create the memory trace of an
experience. Although neurobiologists are concerned with exactly what neural
processes change when memories are created, for psychologists the term
memory trace simply refers to the change in the nervous system that represents
our experience. The exact nature of that change is hard to discern by
psychological means alone (Tulving & Bower, 1975). Something must change
and persist over time to permit us to display our learning in the future, and the
term memory trace serves that function for psychologists.
Although the need for a concept like engram or memory trace is
indisputable, it is wrong to take the term too far. Psychologists and
neuroscientists sometimes have a tendency to do so, but it is important to
realize that memory traces are not little packets of information that lie dormant
in the brain, waiting to be called forward to give an accurate report of past
experience. We know this cannot be so, exactly, because remembering is often
imprecise and is fraught with error. Memory traces do not act like video or audio
recordings, capturing experience with great fidelity. Thus, it wrong to think that
remembering involves reading out a faithful record of past experience when
1004
we recount our experiences. Rather, we reconstruct past events as we

remember with the aid of our memory traces but also with our current
knowledge of what we think happened in the past. In a phrase, remembering
is reconstructive (we reconstruct our past with the aid of memory traces) rather
than purely reproductive (a perfect reproduction of the past). We consider this
issue further in the section on retrieval.
Psychologists refer to the time between learning and testing as the retention
interval. Memories can consolidate during that time, aiding retention. However,
experiences can also occur that undermine the memory. One important feature
is interference. Activities that interfere with memories during the retention
interval cause retroactive interference. Think of relatively routine activities that
you do every day. If I ask you to recall what you had for lunch yesterday, you
could probably do it. However, if I ask you to recall what you had for lunch 17
days ago, you may well fail (assuming you have varied items for lunch and not
the same thing every day). The 16 lunches you have had since that one create
retroactive interference for that experience. On the other hand, the many
lunches you had before that particular one also can cause interference;
experiences occurring before a particular event that interfere with its retention
is called proactive interference, although of course in this case the interfering
events do not occur during the retention interval.
Retroactive interference is one of the main determinants of forgetting
(McGeoch, 1932). In the chapter Eyewitness Misidentification and Memory
Biases Elizabeth Loftus describes her fascinating work on eyewitness memory,
in which she shows how memory for an event can be changed via
misinformation supplied during the retention interval. This misinformation
effect in eyewitness memory represents a type of retroactive interference that
can occur during the retention interval (see Loftus [2005] for a review). Of
course, if correct information is given during the retention interval, the witnesss
memory will usually be improved.
1005
Although interference may arise from a manipulation between the

occurrence of an event and the need to express it when someone asks, the
effect itself is always expressed when we retrieve memories, the topic to which
we turn next.
Retrieval
Retrieval of information is necessary for its use. If information is encoded and
stored but cannot be retrieved, it is of no use. This is one reason that Endel
Tulving argued that the key process in memory is retrieval (1991, p. 91). Why
should retrieval be given more prominence that encoding or storage? After all,
successful remembering involves all three processes. That is true, but the
bottleneck in learning and memory is the retrieval process. As discussed in
previous sections of the chapter, we basically encode and store nearly
everything to which we attendthousands of events, conversations, sights, and
sounds are encoded every day, creating memory traces (although no one knows
for sure how long they last). Most of this information is wasted, in the sense
that it will never be retrieved. We access in the future only a tiny part of what
we learned from our past, although those other events may shape our
knowledge in more subtle ways than in conscious retrieval. Most of our
memories will never be used, in the sense of brought back to mind consciously.
This fact seems so typical that we rarely reflect on it. All those events that
happened to you in the fourth grade that seemed so important then? Now,
many years later, you would struggle to remember even a few. Are traces of
the memories still there in some latent form? With currently available methods,
it is impossible to know, and it is difficult to see how this situation will change
significantly in the near future.
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Psychologists distinguish information that is available in memory and that

which is accessible (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966). Available information is the
information that is stored in memory; almost by definition, we cannot know
precisely how much and what types of information are stored. All we can know
is what information we can retrieve; this is accessible information. The
assumption is that accessible (retrievable) information represents only a tiny
slice of information available in our brains. Most of us have had the experience
of trying hard to remember some fact or event, giving up, and then having it
come to us at some later time, even if we had given up. Similarly, we all know
the experience of failing to recall a fact but then, if we are given several choices,
as in a multiple-choice test, easily being able to recognize the fact.
What factors determine what information can be retrieved from memory?
One critical factor is the type of hints or cues in the environment. You may hear
a song on the radio that suddenly takes you back to some previous time in your
life and provokes memories of that time (even if you were not trying to
remember your earlier life when the song came on the radio). The song is tightly
associated with that time in your life, so it brings the experience to mind.
The general principle that underlies the effectiveness of retrieval cues is the
encoding specificity principle (Tulving & Thomson, 1973). This is a mouthful, so
let us explain the core idea in simpler language. The assumption is that when
people encode information, they do so in specific ways. To return to the example
of the song that brought to mind an event from many years before, perhaps
you heard the song while you were at an exciting party where you had just met
someone with whom you would later fall in love. Thus the song is part and
parcel of this whole complex experience. Years later, when you hear the song
on the radio, it brings back the whole experience with a rush. In general, the
encoding specificity principle states that to the extent that a retrieval cue (the
song) matches the memory trace of the experience (the party, the person), to
that extent will it be effective in provoking the memory. So cues help retrieval
to the extent that they help match or recreate the original experience.
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One proviso is that the cue cannot match too many other experiences
(Nairne, 2002; Watkins, 1975). Consider a lab experiment. Suppose you study
99 words and a single picture (of a penguin) is item 50 in the list. Afterwards,
the cue recall the picture would provoke penguin perfectly. No one would
miss it. However, if the word penguin were placed in the same spot with other
99 words, its recall would be only 2%3%. This outcome shows the power of
distinctiveness we discussed in the section on encodingone picture is
perfectly recalled from among 99 words because it stands out. Now consider
what would happen if the experiment were repeated but the number of pictures
in the 100-item list were increased from 1 to 5 and then 10 and then 25, and
so on. Although the picture of the penguin would still be in the list each time,
the probability of the cue recall the pictures as being useful for the penguin
picture would drop correspondingly. Watkins (1975) referred to this outcome
as reflecting the cue overload principleto be effective, a retrieval cue cannot
be overloaded with too many memories. For the cue recall the picture to be
effective, it is best if the cue only matches one item in the target set (as in the
one-picture, 99-word case).
To sum up the last two paragraphs, for a retrieval cue to be effective, a match
must exist between the cue and the desired target memory; further, the cuetarget relationship should be distinctive to produce the best retrieval. We will
see how the encoding specificity principle can work in practice in the next section
of the chapter.
Psychologists can measure memory performance by using production tests
(involving recall) or recognition tests (involving selection of correct from
incorrect information, as in a multiple-choice test or a true/false test). For
example, to go back to our example of people studying a list of 100 words, one
group could be asked to recall the list in any order (a test called free recall) and
on another test a different group of people might see the 100 studied words
mixed in with 100 nonstudied words and be asked to circle the old or studied
words in the list. In this situation, the recognition test would permit greater
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performance (more correct) than a recall test (although the problem of just
guessing is generally much more serious in recognition testswhat if a person
circled 175 items of the 200 items, or even circled all 200? They would get many
(or all of them) right but they would also get many wrong.
We usually think of recognition tests as being quite easy, because the cue
for retrieval represents a copy of the actual event that was presented for
studying. What could be a better cue than the exact target that the person is
trying to access? In many cases, this statement is true, but at the same time, a
recognition test does not provide a perfect index of what is stored in memory.
That is, you can fail to recognize a target staring you right in the face, but be
able to recall it later with a different set of cues (Watkins & Tulving, 1975).
Suppose I were to give you the task of recognizing the surnames of famous
American under two different conditions. In one case I gave you the actual last
names of people, whereas in the other case I give you a different cue. You might
think that the actual last name cue would always be best, but research has
shown that this is sometimes not so (Muter, 1984). For example, I might give
you names such as Franklin, Ross, Washington, and Bell. Subjects might well
say that Franklin and Washington are famous Americans, whereas Ross and
Bell are not. However, when given a cued recall test using first names, people
often recall items (produce them) that they had failed to recognize. For example,
a cue like Alexander Graham ________ will often lead to recall of Bell even
though people failed to recognize Bell as a famous American name. Yet when
given the cue George people may not come up with Washington because
George is a common name that matches many people (the cue overload
principle at work). This strange factthat recall can sometimes lead to better
performance than recognitioncan be explained by the encoding specificity
principle. Alexander Graham _________ as a cue matches the way the famous
inventor is stored in memory better than does his surname, Bell, by itself (even
though it is the target). Further, the match is quite distinctive with Alexander
Graham ___________ , but the cue George _________________ is much more
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overloaded (George Clooney, George Harrison, George Jones, George Carlin).

The phenomenon we have been describing is called the recognition failure of
recallable words, because it was first shown in word-list experiments rather
than with famous names (Tulving & Thomson, 1973). The point is that the cues
that work best to evoke retrieval are those that recreate the event or name to
be remembered, and sometimes the target itself, such as Bell in the above
example, is not the best cue. Which cue will be most effective depends on how
the information has been encoded.
Whenever we think of information from our past, we have engaged in the
act of retrieval. We usually think that retrieval is a neutral act because we
implicitly believe in trace theory; we think we retrieve the memory (like taking
it off a shelf) and then it is still the same (like putting it back on the shelf).
However, research shows that this assumption is just not so; every time we
retrieve a memory, it changes. Changes can be both positive and negative,
depending on the situation. On the positive side, the act of retrieval (of a fact,
concept, or event) makes the retrieved memory much more likely to be retrieved
again, a phenomenon called the testing effect or the retrieval practice effect
(Pyc & Rawson, 2009; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). We need to practice retrieving
information that we want to have readily accessible (the names and faces of
your class, if you are a teacher). However, retrieval practice of some information
can cause forgetting of information related to it, a phenomenon called retrievalinduced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). Thus the act of retrieval
can be a double-edged swordimproving the information just retrieved
(usually by a large amount) but harming related information (although often
this effect is relatively small).
Retrieval of distant memories is reconstructive. We use the concrete bits
and pieces of the events and weave them into a coherent story (Bartlett, 1932).
If we inject some errors while we reconstruct a story (say, of our birthday party
when we were 10) and if we retrieve the event this way several times, the
interjected bit will become like a fact to us, something that happened. Just as
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retrieval practice enhances accurate memories, so will it increase errors or false

memories (McDermott, 2006). Sometimes memories can be manufactured just
from a vivid story. Consider the following episode recounted by Jean Piaget, the
famous developmental psychologist, from his childhood:
One of my first memories would date, if it were true, from my second year.
I can still see, most clearly, the following scene, in which I believed until I was
about 15. I was sitting in my pram . . . when a man tried to kidnap me. I was
held in by the strap fastened round me while my nurse bravely tried to stand
between me and the thief. She received various scratches, and I can still vaguely
see those on her face. . . . When I was about 15, my parents received a letter
from my former nurse saying that she had been converted to the Salvation
Army. She wanted to confess her past faults, and in particular to return the
watch she had been given as a reward on this occasion. She had made up the
whole story, faking the scratches. I therefore must have heard, as a child, this
story, which my parents believed, and projected it into the past in the form of
a visual memory. . . . Many real memories are doubtless of the same order.
(Piaget, 1962, pp. 187188)
Piagets vivid memory represents a case of a pure reconstructive memory.
He heard the tale told repeatedly and doubtless told it (and thought about it)
himself. The repeated telling cemented the events as though they had really
happened, which leaves open to each of us the possibility that many real
memories are of the same order. The fact that one can remember precise
visual details (the location of the memory, scratches) does not necessarily
indicate that the memory is true, and this point has been confirmed in
laboratory studies, too (e.g., Norman & Schacter, 1997).
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Putting It All Together: Improving Your Memory

A central theme of this chapter has been the importance of encoding and
retrieval processes and their interaction. Briefly, to improve learning and
memory, we need to encode material in a meaningful, distinctive way and to
provide ourselves with excellent cues that will bring back the remembered
events when we need them. That sounds fine as a general rule, but how do we
implement it? Actually, there are many ways, and the specific technique depends
on what one needs to remember and for how long. Keep in mind the two critical
principles we have discussed: To maximize retrieval, we should construct
meaningful cues that remind us of the original experience, but cues that are
distinctive and not confusable with other cues. These two conditions are critical
in maximizing cue effectiveness (Nairne, 2002).
But how can these principles be adapted for use in many situations? Lets
go back to how we started the chapter, with Simon Reinhards ability to
memorize huge numbers of digits presented at the fast rate of 1/second.
Although it was not obvious, he used these same general principles in a different
way. In fact, all mnemonic devices or memory aids rely on these principles. In
the typical case, the person learns perfectly a set of cues and then uses these
cues to learn and remember information. Consider the set of 20 items below
that are easy to learn and remember (Bower & Reitman, 1972).
1 is a gun.
11 is penny-one, hot dog bun.
2 is a shoe.
12 is penny-two, airplane glue.
3 is a tree.
13 is penny-three, bumble bee.
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4 is a door.
14 is penny-four, grocery store.
5 is knives.
15 is penny-five, big beehive.
6 is sticks.
16 is penny-six, magic tricks.
7 is oven.
17 is penny-seven, go to heaven.
8 is plate.
18 is penny-eight, golden gate.
9 is wine.
19 is penny-nine, ball of twine.
10 is hen.
20 is penny-ten, ballpoint pen.
It would probably take you less than 10 minutes to learn this list and practice
recalling it several times (remember to use retrieval practice!). If you took this
trouble, you would have a set of peg words on which you can hang memories,
so this mnemonic device is called the peg word technique. If you now need to
remember some discrete itemssay a grocery list or points you want to make
in a speech or simply a list of words you are giventhis method will let you do
so in a very precise yet flexible way. Suppose you had to remember bread,
peanut butter, bananas, lettuce, and so on. The way to use the method is to
form a vivid image of what you want to remember and imagine it interacting
with all your peg words (or as many as you need). For example, for these items,
you might imagine a large gun (the first peg word) shooting a loaf of bread, then
a jar of peanut butter inside a shoe, then large bunches of bananas hanging
from a tree, then a door slamming on a head of lettuce with leaves flying
everywhere. The idea is to provide good, distinctive encoding of the information
you need to remember while you are learning the information. If you do this,
then retrieval at some point later is relatively easy. You know your cues perfectly
(one is gun, etc.), so you simply go through your cue word list and look in your
minds eye at the image stored there (bread, in this case).
This peg word method sounds strange at first, but it works quite well even
with little training (Roediger, 1980). One proviso, though, is that the items to be
remembered need to be presented relatively slowly at first until you have
practice associating them to the cue word. People get faster with time. Another
interesting aspect of this technique is that it is just as easy to recall the items
1013
in backwards order as forwards; if you want to show off, you could recall the
odd-numbered items in a forward order and the even-numbered items in a
backwards order. The reason is that the 20 peg words provide direct access to
the memorized items.
How did Simon Reinhard remember those digits? Essentially he has a much
more complex system based on these same principles. In his case, he uses
memory palaces (elaborate scenes with discrete places) combined with huge
sets of images for digits. For example, imagine mentally walking through the
house or apartment where you grew up and identifying as many discrete scenes
as possible. Simon has hundreds of such memory palaces as this that he can
use. Next, for remembering digits, he has memorized a set of 10,000 images.
Every four-digit number for him immediately brings forth a mental image, so
6187 might be Michael Jackson. When Simon hears all the numbers coming at
him, he places an image of every four digits into the places in his memory palace.
He can do this at the incredibly rapid rate of faster than 4 digits per 4 seconds
when they are flashed visually, as in the demonstration at the beginning. As
noted, his record is 240 digits presented and recalled in their exact order. Simon
also holds the world record in the event called speed cards, which is memorizing
a random deck of cards. Simon was able to do this in 21.19 seconds! Again, he
uses his memory palaces and he encodes groups of cards into one image.
Many books exist on how to improve memory using mnemonic devices, but
all involve forming distinctive encoding operations and then having an infallible
set of memory cues. We should add that to develop and use these memory
systems beyond the basic peg system outlined above takes a great amount of
time and concentration. The World Memory Championships are held every year
and the records keep improving. However, for most common purposes, just
keep in mind that to remember well you need to encode information in a
distinctive way and to have good cues for retrieval. You can adapt a system that
will meet most any purpose.
1014
Outside Resources
Book: Brown, P.C., Roediger, H. L. & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Smarter, sooner,
longer: Effective strategies for learning and remembering. Cambridge, MA:
Video: Simon Reinhard breaking the world record in speedcards.

1. Mnemonists like Simon Reinhard develop mental journeys, which enable
them to use the method of loci. Develop your own journey, which contains
20 places, in order, that you know well. One example might be: the front
walkway to your parents apartment; their doorbell; the couch in their living
room; etc. Be sure to use a set of places that you know well and that have
a natural order to them (e.g., the walkway comes before the doorbell). Now
you are more than halfway toward being able to memorize a set of 20 nouns,
in order, rather quickly. As an optional second step, have a friend make a
list of 20 such nouns and read them to you, slowly (e.g., one every 5 seconds).
Use the method to attempt to remember the 20 items.
2. Recall a recent argument or misunderstanding you have had about memory
(e.g., a debate over whether your girlfriend/boyfriend had agreed to
something). In light of what you have just learned about memory, how do
you think about it? Is it possible that the disagreement can be understood
by one of you making a pragmatic inference?
3. Think about what youve just learned in this chapter and about how you
study for tests. On the basis of what you have just learned, is there
something that you want to try that might help your study habits?
Vocabulary
Autobiographical memory
Memory for the events of ones life.
Consolidation
The process occurring after encoding that is believed to stabilize memory traces.
Cue overload principle
The principle stating that the more memories that are associated to a particular
retrieval cue, the less effective the cue will be in prompting retrieval of any one
memory.
Distinctiveness
The principle that unusual events (in a context of similar events) will be recalled
and recognized better than uniform (nondistinctive) events.
Encoding specificity principle
The hypothesis that a retrieval cue will be effective to the extent that information
encoded from the cue overlaps or matches information in the engram or
memory trace.
Engrams
A term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event; also,
memory trace.
Episodic memory
Memory for events in a particular time and place.
Flashbulb memory
Vivid personal memories of receiving the news of some momentous (and
usually emotional) event.
Memory traces
A term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event.
Misinformation effect
When erroneous information occurring after an event is remembered as having
been part of the original event.
Mnemonic devices
A strategy for remembering large amounts of information, usually involving
imaging events occurring on a journey or with some other set of memorized
cues.
Recoding
The ubiquitous process during learning of taking information in one form and
converting it to another form, usually one more easily remembered.
Retrieval
The process of accessing stored information.
Retroactive interference
The phenomenon whereby events that occur after some particular event of
interest will usually cause forgetting of the original event.
Semantic memory
The more or less permanent store of knowledge that people have.
Storage
The stage in the learning/memory process that bridges encoding and retrieval;
the persistence of memory over time.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval) by

Kathleen B. McDermott and Henry L. Roediger III is licensed under the Creative Commons
Forgetting and Amnesia

Nicole Dudukovic & Brice Kuhl
New York University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter explores the causes of everyday forgetting and considers
pathological forgetting in the context of amnesia. Forgetting is viewed as an
adaptive process that allows us to be efficient in terms of the information we
retain.
Learning Objectives
Identify five reasons we forget and give examples of each.
Describe how forgetting can be viewed as an adaptive process.
Explain the difference between anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Introduction
Chances are that you have experienced memory lapses and been frustrated by
them. You may have had trouble remembering the definition of a key term on
an exam or found yourself unable to recall the name of an actor from one of
your favorite TV shows. Maybe you forgot to call your aunt on her birthday or
you routinely forget where you put your cell phone. Oftentimes, the bit of
information we are searching for comes back to us, but sometimes it does not.
Clearly, forgetting seems to be a natural part of life. Why do we forget? And is
forgetting always a bad thing?
Causes of Forgetting
One very common and obvious reason why you cannot remember a piece of
information is because you did not learn it in the first place. If you fail to encode
information into memory, you are not going to remember it later on. Usually,
encoding failures occur because we are distracted or are not paying attention
to specific details. For example, people have a lot of trouble recognizing an
actual penny out of a set of drawings of very similar pennies, or lures, even
though most of us have had a lifetime of experience handling pennies
(Nickerson & Adams, 1979). However, few of us have studied the features of a
penny in great detail, and since we have not attended to those details, we fail
to recognize them later. Similarly, it has been well documented that distraction
during learning impairs later memory (e.g., Craik, Govoni, Naveh-Benjamin, &
Anderson, 1996). Most of the time this is not problematic, but in certain
situations, such as when you are studying for an exam, failures to encode due
to distraction can have serious repercussions.
nobaproject.com - Forgetting and Amnesia
1028
Another proposed reason why we forget is that memories fade, or decay,

over time. It has been known since the pioneering work of Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1885/1913) that as time passes, memories get harder to recall. Ebbinghaus
created more than 2,000 nonsense syllables, such as dax, bap, and rif, and
studied his own memory for them, learning as many as 420 lists of 16 nonsense
syllables for one experiment. He found that his memories diminished as time
passed, with the most forgetting happening early on after learning. His
observations and subsequent research suggested that if we do not rehearse a
memory and the neural representation of that memory is not reactivated over
a long period of time, the memory representation may disappear entirely or
fade to the point where it can no longer be accessed. As you might imagine, it
is hard to definitively prove that a memory has decayed as opposed to it being
inaccessible for another reason. Critics argued that forgetting must be due to
processes other than simply the passage of time, since disuse of a memory
does not always guarantee forgetting (McGeoch, 1932). More recently, some
memory theorists have proposed that recent memory traces may be degraded
or disrupted by new experiences (Wixted, 2004). Memory traces need to be
consolidated, or transferred from the hippocampus to more durable
representations in the cortex, in order for them to last (McGaugh, 2000). When
the consolidation process is interrupted by the encoding of other experiences,
the memory trace for the original experience does not get fully developed and
thus is forgotten.
Both encoding failures and decay account for more permanent forms of
forgetting, in which the memory trace does not exist, but forgetting may also
occur when a memory exists yet we temporarily cannot access it. This type of
forgetting may occur when we lack the appropriate retrieval cues for bringing
the memory to mind. You have probably had the frustrating experience of
forgetting your password for an online site. Usually, the password has not been
permanently forgotten; instead, you just need the right reminder to remember
what it is. For example, if your password was pizza0525, and you received the
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password hints favorite food and Moms birthday, you would easily be able
to retrieve it. Retrieval hints can bring back to mind seemingly forgotten
memories (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966). One real-life illustration of the
importance of retrieval cues comes from a study showing that whereas people
have difficulty recalling the names of high school classmates years after
graduation, they are easily able to recognize the names and match them to the
appropriate faces (Bahrick, Bahrick, & Wittinger, 1975). The names are powerful
enough retrieval cues that they bring back the memories of the faces that went
with them. The fact that the presence of the right retrieval cues is critical for
remembering adds to the difficulty in proving that a memory is permanently
forgotten as opposed to temporarily unavailable.
Retrieval failures can also occur because other memories are blocking or
getting in the way of recalling the desired memory. This blocking is referred to
as interference. For example, you may fail to remember the name of a town
you visited with your family on summer vacation because the names of other
towns you visited on that trip or on other trips come to mind instead. Those
memories then prevent the desired memory from being retrieved. Interference
is also relevant to the example of forgetting a password: passwords that we
have used for other websites may come to mind and interfere with our ability
to retrieve the desired password. Interference can be either proactive, in which
old memories block the learning of new related memories, or retroactive, in
which new memories block the retrieval of old related memories. For both types
of interference, competition between memories seems to be key (Mensink &
Raaijmakers, 1988). Your memory for a town you visited on vacation is unlikely
to interfere with your ability to remember an Internet password, but it is likely
to interfere with your ability to remember a different towns name. Competition
between memories can also lead to forgetting in a different way. Recalling a
desired memory in the face of competition may result in the inhibition of related,
competing memories (Levy & Anderson, 2002). You may have difficulty recalling
the name of Kennebunkport, Maine, because other Maine towns, such as Bar
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Harbor, Winterport, and Camden, come to mind instead. However, if you are
able to recall Kennebunkport despite strong competition from the other towns,
this may actually change the competitive landscape, weakening memory for
those other towns names, leading to forgetting of them instead.
Finally, some memories may be forgotten because we deliberately attempt

to keep them out of mind. Over time, by actively trying not to remember an
event, we can sometimes successfully keep the undesirable memory from being
retrieved either by inhibiting the undesirable memory or generating
diversionary thoughts (Anderson & Green, 2001). Imagine that you slipped and
fell in your high school cafeteria during lunch time, and everyone at the
surrounding tables laughed at you. You would likely wish to avoid thinking about
that event and might try to prevent it from coming to mind. One way that you
could accomplish this is by thinking of other, more positive, events that are
associated with the cafeteria. Eventually, this memory may be suppressed to
the point that it would only be retrieved with great difficulty (Hertel & Calcaterra,
2005).
1031
Adaptive Forgetting
We have explored five different causes of forgetting. Together they can account
for the day-to-day episodes of forgetting that each of us experience. Typically,
we think of these episodes in a negative light and view forgetting as a memory
failure. Is forgetting ever good? Most people would reason that forgetting that
occurs in response to a deliberate attempt to keep an event out of mind is a
good thing. No one wants to be constantly reminded of falling on their face in
front of all of their friends. However, beyond that, it can be argued that forgetting
is adaptive, allowing us to be efficient and hold onto only the most relevant
memories (Bjork, 1989; Anderson & Milson, 1989). Shereshevsky, or S, the
mnemonist studied by Alexander Luria (1968), was a man who almost never
forgot. His memory appeared to be virtually limitless. He could memorize a
table of 50 numbers in under 3 minutes and recall the numbers in rows,
columns, or diagonals with ease. He could recall lists of words and passages
that he had memorized over a decade before. Yet Shereshevsky found it difficult
to function in his everyday life because he was constantly distracted by a flood
of details and associations that sprung to mind. His case history suggests that
remembering everything is not always a good thing. You may occasionally have
trouble remembering where you parked your car, but imagine if every time you
had to find your car, every single former parking space came to mind. The task
would become impossibly difficult to sort through all of those irrelevant
memories. Thus, forgetting is adaptive in that it makes us more efficient. The
price of that efficiency is those moments when our memories seem to fail us
(Schacter, 1999).
1032
Amnesia
Clearly, remembering everything would be maladaptive, but what would it be
like to remember nothing? We will now consider a profound form of forgetting
called amnesia that is distinct from more ordinary forms of forgetting. Most of
us have had exposure to the concept of amnesia through popular movies and
television. Typically, in these fictionalized portrayals of amnesia, a character
suffers some type of blow to the head and suddenly has no idea who they are
and can no longer recognize their family or remember any events from their
past. After some period of time (or another blow to the head), their memories
come flooding back to them. Unfortunately, this portrayal of amnesia is not
very accurate. What does amnesia typically look like?
The most widely studied amnesic patient was known by his initials H. M.
(Scoville & Milner, 1957). As a teenager, H. M. suffered from severe epilepsy,
and in 1953, he underwent surgery to have both of his medial temporal lobes
removed to relieve his epileptic seizures. The medial temporal lobes
encompass the hippocampus and surrounding cortical tissue. Although the
surgery was successful in reducing H. M.s seizures and his general intelligence
was preserved, the surgery left H. M. with a profound and permanent memory
deficit. From the time of his surgery until his death in 2008, H. M. was unable
to learn new information, a memory impairment called anterograde amnesia.
H. M. could not remember any event that occurred since his surgery, including
highly significant ones, such as the death of his father. He could not remember
a conversation he had a few minutes prior or recognize the face of someone
who had visited him that same day. He could keep information in his shortterm, or working, memory, but when his attention turned to something else,
that information was lost for good. It is important to note that H. M.s memory
impairment was restricted to declarative memory, or conscious memory for
facts and events. H. M. could learn new motor skills and showed improvement
on motor tasks even in the absence of any memory for having performed the
1033
task before (Corkin, 2002).

In addition to anterograde amnesia, H. M. also suffered from temporally
graded retrograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia refers to an inability to
retrieve old memories that occurred before the onset of amnesia. Extensive
retrograde amnesia in the absence of anterograde amnesia is very rare
(Kopelman, 2000). More commonly, retrograde amnesia co-occurs with
anterograde amnesia and shows a temporal gradient, in which memories
closest in time to the onset of amnesia are lost, but more remote memories
are retained (Hodges, 1994). In the case of H. M., he could remember events
from his childhood, but he could not remember events that occurred a few
years before the surgery.
Amnesiac patients with damage to the hippocampus and surrounding
medial temporal lobes typically manifest a similar clinical profile as H. M. The
degree of anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia depend on the extent
of the medial temporal lobe damage, with greater damage associated with a
more extensive impairment (Reed & Squire, 1998). Anterograde amnesia
provides evidence for the role of the hippocampus in the formation of longlasting declarative memories, as damage to the hippocampus results in an
inability to create this type of new memory. Similarly, temporally graded
retrograde amnesia can be seen as providing further evidence for the
importance of memory consolidation (Squire & Alvarez, 1995). A memory
depends on the hippocampus until it is consolidated and transferred into a
more durable form that is stored in the cortex. According to this theory, an
amnesiac patient like H. M. could remember events from his remote past
because those memories were fully consolidated and no longer depended on
the hippocampus.
The classic amnesiac syndrome we have considered here is sometimes
referred to as organic amnesia, and it is distinct from functional, or dissociative,
amnesia. Functional amnesia involves a loss of memory that cannot be
attributed to brain injury or any obvious brain disease and is typically classified
1034
as a mental disorder rather than a neurological disorder (Kihlstrom, 2005). The

clinical profile of dissociative amnesia is very different from that of patients who
suffer from amnesia due to brain damage or deterioration. Individuals who
experience dissociative amnesia often have a history of trauma. Their amnesia
is retrograde, encompassing autobiographical memories from a portion of their
past. In an extreme version of this disorder, people enter a dissociative fugue
state, in which they lose most or all of their autobiographical memories and
their sense of personal identity. They may be found wandering in a new location,
unaware of who they are and how they got there. Dissociative amnesia is
controversial, as both the causes and existence of it have been called into
question. The memory loss associated with dissociative amnesia is much less
likely to be permanent than it is in organic amnesia.
Conclusion
Just as the case study of the mnemonist Shereshevsky illustrates what a life
with a near perfect memory would be like, amnesiac patients show us what a
life without memory would be like. Each of the mechanisms we discussed that
explain everyday forgettingencoding failures, decay, insufficient retrieval
cues, interference, and intentional attempts to forgethelp to keep us highly
efficient, retaining the important information and for the most part, forgetting
the unimportant. Amnesiac patients allow us a glimpse into what life would be
like if we suffered from profound forgetting and perhaps show us that our
everyday lapses in memory are not so bad after all.
1035
Outside Resources
Web: Self-experiment, Penny demo
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/
Web: The Brain Observatorys Project HM
http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/hm
Web: The Man Who Couldnt Remember
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/corkin-hm-memory.html
1. Is forgetting good or bad? Do you agree with the authors that forgetting is
an adaptive process? Why or why not?
2. Can we ever prove that something is forgotten? Why or why not?
3. Which of the five reasons for forgetting do you think explains the majority
of incidences of forgetting? Why?
4. How is real-life amnesia different than amnesia that is portrayed on TV and
in film?
Vocabulary
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories for facts and events after the onset of amnesia.
Consolidation
Process by which a memory trace is stabilized and transformed into a more
durable form.
Decay
The fading of memories with the passage of time.
Declarative memory
Conscious memories for facts and events.
Dissociative amnesia
Loss of autobiographical memories from a period in the past in the absence of
brain injury or disease.
Encoding
Process by which information gets into memory.
Interference
Other memories get in the way of retrieving a desired memory
Medial temporal lobes

Inner region of the temporal lobes that includes the hippocampus.
Retrieval
Process by which information is accessed from memory and utilized.
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve memories for facts and events acquired before the onset
of amnesia.
Temporally graded retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve memories from just prior to the onset of amnesia with intact
memory for more remote events.
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substitution.
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(Eds.),
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Psychology, 1, 227
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An
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memory retrieval.
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Luria, A. R. (1968). The mind of a mnemonist: A little book about a vast memory
(L. Solataroff,
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new cases. Journal of Neuroscience, 18, 39433954.
Schacter, D. L. (1999). The seven sins of memory: Insights from psychology and
cognitive
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Forgetting and Amnesia by Nicole Dudukovic
and Brice Kuhl is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Topic 7
Social
Social Neuroscience
Tiffany A. Ito & Jennifer T. Kubota
University of Colorado Boulder, New York University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the new field of social neuroscience, which
combines the use of neuroscience methods and theories to understand how
other people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The chapter
reviews research measuring neural and hormonal responses to understand
how we make judgments about other people and react to stress. Through these
examples, it illustrates how social neuroscience addresses three different
questions: (1) how our understanding of social behavior can be expanded when
we consider neural and physiological responses, (2) what the actual biological
systems are that implement social behavior (e.g., what specific brain areas are
associated with specific social tasks), and (3) how biological systems are
impacted by social processes.
Learning Objectives
Define social neuroscience and describe its three major goals.
Describe how measures of brain activity such as EEG and fMRI are used to
make inferences about social processes.
Discuss how social categorization occurs.
Describe how simulation may be used to make inferences about others.
Discuss the ways in which other people can cause stress and also protect
us against stress.
Psychology has a long tradition of using our brains and body to better
understand how we think and act. For example, in 1939 Heinrich Kluver and
Paul Bucy removed (i.e. lesioned) the temporal lobes in some rhesus monkeys
and observed the effect on behavior. Included in these lesions was a subcortical
area of the brain called the amygdala. After surgery, the monkeys experienced
profound behavioral changes, including loss of fear. These results provided
initial evidence that the amygdala plays a role in emotional responses, a finding
that has since been confirmed by subsequent studies (Phelps & LeDoux, 2005;
Whalen & Phelps, 2009).
What Is Social Neuroscience?

Social neuroscience similarly uses the brain and body to understand how we
think and act, with a focus on how we think about and act toward other people.
More specifically, we can think of social neuroscience as an interdisciplinary
field that uses a range of neuroscience measures to understand how other
people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
As such, social
neuroscience studies the same topics as social psychology, but does so from a
multilevel perspective that includes the study of the brain and body. Figure 1
shows the scope of social neuroscience with respect to the older fields of social
psychology and neuroscience. Although the field is relatively new the term
first appeared in 1992 (Cacioppo & Berntson, 1992) it has grown rapidly, thanks
to technological advances making measures of the brain and body cheaper and
more powerful than ever before, and to the recognition that neural and
physiological information are critical to understanding how we interact with
other people.
Social neuroscience can be thought of as both a methodological approach
(using measures of the brain and body to study social processes) and a
theoretical orientation (seeing the benefits of integrating neuroscience into the
study of social psychology). The overall approach in social neuroscience is to
nobaproject.com - Social Neuroscience
1049
understand the psychological processes that underlie our social behavior.

Because those psychological processes are intrapsychic phenomena that
cannot be directly observed, social neuroscientists rely on a combination of
measureable or observable neural and physiological responses as well as actual
overt behavior to make inferences about psychological states (see Figure 1).
Using this approach, social neuroscientists have been able to pursue three
different types of questions: (1) What more can we learn about social behavior
when we consider neural and physiological responses? (2) What are the actual
biological systems that implement social behavior (e.g., what specific brain
areas are associated with specific social tasks)? and (3) How are biological
systems impacted by social processes?
In this chapter, we review three research questions that have been
addressed with social neuroscience that illustrate the different goals of the field.
These examples also expose you to some of the frequently used measures.
How Automatically Do We Judge Other People?

Social categorization is the act of mentally classifying someone as belonging
in a group. Why do we do this? It is an effective mental shortcut. Rather than
effortfully thinking about every detail of every person we encounter, social
categorization allows us to rely on information we already know about the
persons group. For example, by classifying your restaurant server as a man,
you can quickly activate all the information you have stored about men and use
it to guide your behavior. But this shortcut comes with potentially high costs.
The stored group beliefs might not be very accurate, and even when they do
accurately describe some group members, they are unlikely to be true for every
member you encounter. In addition, many beliefs we associate with groups
called stereotypes are negative. This means that relying on social
categorization can often lead people to make negative assumptions about
1050
others.
The potential costs of social categorization make it important to understand
how social categorization occurs. Is it rare or does it occur often? Is it something
we can easily stop, or is it hard to override? One difficultly answering these
questions is that people are not always consciously aware of what they are
doing. In this case, we might not always realize when we are categorizing
someone. Another concern is that even when people are aware of their
behavior, they can be reluctant to accurately report it to an experimenter. In
the case of social categorization, subjects might worry they will look bad if they
accurately report classifying someone into a group associated with negative
stereotypes. For instance, many racial groups are associated with some negative
stereotypes, and subjects may worry that admitting to classifying someone into
one of those groups means they believe and use those negative stereotypes.
Social neuroscience has been useful for studying how social categorization
occurs without having to rely on self-report measures, instead measuring brain
activity differences that occur when people encounter members of different
social groups. Much of this work has recorded the electroencephalogram, or
EEG. EEG is a measure of electrical activity generated by the brains neurons.
Comparing this electrical activity at a given point in time against what a person
is thinking and doing at that same time allows us to make inferences about
brain activity associated with specific psychological states. One particularly nice
feature of EEG is that it provides very precise timing information about when
brain activity occurs. EEG is measured non-invasively with small electrodes that
rest on the surface of the scalp. This is often done with a stretchy elastic cap,
like the one shown in Figure 2, into which the small electrodes are sewn.
Researchers simply pull the cap onto the subjects head to get the electrodes
into place; wearing it is similar to wearing a swim cap. The subject can then be
asked to think about different topics or engage in different tasks as brain activity
is measured.
1051
To study social categorization, subjects have been shown pictures of people

who belong to different social groups. Brain activity recorded from many
individual trials (e.g., looking at lots of different Black individuals) is then
averaged together to get an overall idea of how the brain responds when viewing
individuals who belong to a particular social group. These studies suggest that
social categorization is an automatic process something that happens with
little conscious awareness or control especially for dimensions like gender,
race, and age (Ito & Urland, 2003; Mouchetant-Rostaing & Giard, 2003). The
studies specifically show that brain activity differs when subjects view members
of different social groups (e.g., men versus women, Blacks versus Whites),
suggesting that the group differences are being encoded and processed by the
perceiver. One interesting finding is that these brain changes occur both when
subjects are purposely asked to categorize the people into social groups (e.g.,
to judge whether the person is Black or White), and also when they are asked
to do something that draws attention away from group classifications (e.g.,
making a personality judgment about the person) (Ito & Urland, 2005). This tells
us that we do not have to intend to make group classifications in order for them
to happen. It is also very interesting to consider how quickly the changes in
brain responses occur. Brain activity is altered by viewing members of different
groups within 200 milliseconds of seeing a persons face. That is just two-tenths
of a second. Such a fast response lends further support to the idea that social
categorization occurs automatically and may not depend on conscious
intention.
Overall, this research suggests that we engage in social categorization very
frequently. In fact, it appears to happen automatically (i.e., without us
consciously intending for it to happen) in most situations for dimensions like
gender, age, and race. Since classifying someone into a group is the first step
to activating a group stereotype, this research provides important information
about how easily stereotypes can be activated. And because it is hard for people
to accurately report on things that happen so quickly, this issue has been difficult
1052
to study using more traditional self-report measures. Using EEGs has, therefore,
been helpful in providing interesting new insights into social behavior.
Do We Use Our Own Behavior to Help Us Understand

Others?
Classifying someone into a social group then activating the associated
stereotype is one way to make inferences about others. However, it is not the
only method. Another strategy is to imagine what our own thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors would be in a similar situation. Then we can use our simulated
reaction as a best guess about how someone else will respond (Goldman, 2005).
After all, we are experts in our own feelings, thoughts, and tendencies. It might
be hard to know what other people are feeling and thinking, but we can always
ask ourselves how we would feel and act if we were in their shoes.
There has been some debate about whether simulation is used to get into
the minds of others (Carruthers & Smith, 1996; Gallese & Goldman, 1998). Social
neuroscience research has addressed this question by looking at the brain areas
used when people think about themselves and others. If the same brain areas
are active for the two types of judgments, it lends support to the idea that the
self may be used to make inferences about others via simulation.
We know that an area in the prefrontal cortex called the medial prefrontal
cortex (mPFC) located in the middle of the frontal lobe is active when people
think about themselves (Kelley, Macrae, Wyland, Caglar, Inati, & Heatherton,
2002). This conclusion comes from studies using functional magnetic
resonance imaging, or fMRI. While EEG measures the brains electrical activity,
fMRI measures changes in the oxygenation of blood flowing in the brain. When
neurons become more active, blood flow to the area increases to bring more
oxygen and glucose to the active cells. fMRI allows us to image these changes
in oxygenation by placing people in an fMRI machine or scanner (Figure 3),
which consists of large magnets that create strong magnetic fields. The magnets
1053
affect the alignment of the oxygen molecules within the blood (i.e., how they
are tilted). As the oxygen molecules move in and out of alignment with the
magnetic fields, their nuclei produce energy that can be detected with special
sensors placed close to the head. Recording fMRI involves having the subject
lay on a small bed that is then rolled into the scanner. While fMRI does require
subjects to lie still within the small scanner and the large magnets involved are
noisy, the scanning itself is safe and painless. Like EEG, the subject can then
be asked to think about different topics or engage in different tasks as brain
activity is measured. If we know what a person is thinking or doing when fMRI
detects a blood flow increase to a particular brain area, we can infer that part
of the brain is involved with the thought or action. fMRI is particularly useful
for identifying which particular brain areas are active at a given point in time.
The conclusion that the mPFC is associated with the self comes from studies
measuring fMRI while subjects think about themselves (e.g., saying whether
traits are descriptive of themselves). Using this knowledge, other researchers
have looked at whether the same brain area is active when people make
inferences about others. Mitchell, Neil Macrae, and Banaji (2005) showed
subjects pictures of strangers and had them judge either how pleased the
person was to have his or her picture taken or how symmetrical the face
appeared. Judging whether someone is pleased about being photographed
requires making an inference about someones internal feelings we call this
mentalizing. By contrast, facial symmetry judgments are based solely on
physical appearances and do not involve mentalizing. A comparison of brain
activity during the two types of judgments shows more activity in the mPFC
when making the mental versus physical judgments, suggesting this brain area
is involved when inferring the internal beliefs of others.
There are two other notable aspects of this study. First, mentalizing about
others also increased activity in a variety of regions important for many aspects
of social processing, including a region important in representing biological
motion (superior temporal sulcus or STS), an area critical for emotional
1054
processing (amygdala), and a region also involved in thinking about the beliefs
of others (temporal parietal junction, TPJ) (Gobbini & Haxby, 2007; Schultz,
Imamizu, Kawato, & Frith, 2004) (Figure 4). This finding shows that a distributed
and interacting set of brain areas is likely to be involved in social processing.
Second, activity in the most ventral part of the mPFC (the part closer to the belly
rather than toward the top of the head), which has been most consistently
associated with thinking about the self, was particularly active when subjects
mentalized about people they rated as similar to themselves. Simulation is
thought to be most likely for similar others, so this finding lends support to the
conclusion that we use simulation to mentalize about others. After all, if you
encounter someone who has the same musical taste as you, you will probably
assume you have other things in common with him. By contrast, if you learn
that someone loves music that you hate, you might expect him to differ from
you in other ways (Srivastava, Guglielmo, & Beer, 2010). Using a simulation of
our own feelings and thoughts will be most accurate if we have reason to think
the persons internal experiences are like our own. Thus, we may be most likely
to use simulation to make inferences about others if we think they are similar
to us.
This research is a good example of how social neuroscience is revealing the
functional neuroanatomy of social behavior. That is, it tells us which brain
areas are involved with social behavior. The mPFC (as well as other areas such
as the STS, amygdala, and TPJ) is involved in making judgments about the self
and others. This research also provides new information about how inferences
are made about others. Whereas some have doubted the widespread use of
simulation as a means for making inferences about others, the activation of
the mPFC when mentalizing about others, and the sensitivity of this activation
to similarity between self and other, provides evidence that simulation occurs.
1055
What Is the Cost of Social Stress?

Stress is an unfortunately frequent experience for many of us. Stress which
can be broadly defined as a threat or challenge to our well-being can result
from everyday events like a course exam or more extreme events such as
experiencing a natural disaster. When faced with a stressor, sympathetic
nervous system activity increases in order to prepare our body to respond to
the challenge. This produces what Selye (1950) called a fight or flight response.
The release of hormones, which act as messengers from one part of an
organism (e.g., a cell or gland) to another part of the organism, is part of the
stress response.
A small amount of stress can actually help us stay alert and active. In
comparison, sustained stressors, or chronic stress, detrimentally affect our
health and impair performance (AlAbsi, Hugdahl, & Lovallo, 2002; Black, 2002;
Lazarus, 1974). This happens in part through the chronic secretion of stressrelated hormones (e.g., Davidson, Pizzagalli, Nitschke, & Putnam, 2002;
Dickerson, Gable, Irwin, Aziz, & Kemeny, 2009). In particular, stress activates the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to release cortisol (see Figure 5 for
a discussion). Chronic stress, by way of increases in cortisol, impairs attention,
memory, and self-control (Arnsten, 2009). Cortisol levels can be measured noninvasively in bodily fluids, including blood and saliva. Researchers often collect
a cortisol sample before and after a potentially stressful task. In one common
collection method, subjects place polymer swabs under their tongue for 1 to 2
minutes to soak up saliva. The saliva samples are then stored and analyzed
later to determine the level of cortisol present at each time point.
Whereas early stress researchers studied the effects of physical stressors
like loud noises, social neuroscientists have been instrumental in studying how
our interactions with other people can cause stress. This question has been
addressed through neuroendocrinology, or the study of how the brain and
hormones act in concert to coordinate the physiology of the body. One
1056
contribution of this work has been in understanding the conditions under which
other people can cause stress. In one study, Dickerson, Mycek, and Zaldivar
(2008) asked undergraduates to deliver a speech either alone or to two other
people. When the students gave the speech in front of others, there was a
marked increase in cortisol compared with when they were asked to give a
speech alone. This suggests that like chronic physical stress, everyday social
stressors, like having your performance judged by others, induces a stress
response. Interestingly, simply giving a speech in the same room with someone
who is doing something else did not induce a stress response. This suggests
that the mere presence of others is not stressful, but rather it is the potential
for them to judge us that induces stress.
Worrying about what other people think of us is not the only source of social
stress in our lives. Other research has shown that interacting with people who
belong to different social groups than us what social psychologists call
outgroup members can increase physiological stress responses. For example,
cardiovascular responses associated with stress like contractility of the heart
ventricles and the amount of blood pumped by the heart (what is called cardiac
output) are increased when interacting with outgroup as compared with
ingroup members (i.e., people who belong to the same social group we do)
(Mendes, Blascovich, Likel, & Hunter, 2002). This stress may derive from the
expectation that interactions with dissimilar others will be uncomfortable
(Stephan & Stephan, 1985) or concern about being judged as unfriendly and
prejudiced if the interaction goes poorly (Plant & Devine, 2003).
The research just reviewed shows that events in our social lives can be
stressful, but are social interactions always bad for us? No. In fact, while others
can be the source of much stress, they are also a major buffer against stress.
Research on social support shows that relying on a network of individuals in
tough times gives us tools for dealing with stress and can ward off loneliness
(Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). For instance, people who report greater social
support show a smaller increase in cortisol when performing a speech in front
1057
of two evaluators (Eisenberger, Taylor, Gable, Hilmert, & Lieberman, 2007).

What determines whether others will increase or decrease stress? What
matters is the context of the social interaction. When it has potential to reflect
badly on the self, social interaction can be stressful, but when it provides support
and comfort, social interaction can protect us from the negative effects of stress.
Using neuroendocrinology by measuring hormonal changes in the body has
helped researchers better understand how social factors impact our body and
ultimately our health.
Conclusions
Human beings are intensely social creatures our lives are intertwined with
other people and our health and well-being depend on others. Social
neuroscience helps us to understand the critical function of how we make sense
of and interact with other people. This chapter provides an introduction to what
social neuroscience is and what we have already learned from it, but there is
much still to understand. As we move forward, one exciting future direction will
be to better understand how different parts of the brain and body interact to
produce the numerous and complex patterns of social behavior that humans
display. We hinted at some of this complexity when we reviewed research
showing that while the mPFC is involved in mentalizing, other areas such as the
STS, amygdala, and TPJ are as well. There are likely additional brain areas
involved as well, interacting in ways we do not yet fully understand. These brain
areas in turn control other aspects of the body to coordinate our responses
during social interactions. Social neuroscience will continue to investigate these
questions, revealing new information about how social processes occur, while
also increasing our understanding of basic neural and physiological processes.
1058
Outside Resources
Video: See a demonstration of fMRI data being collected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLORKtkf2n8
Video: See an example of EEG data being collected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVv6v-Hd0A
Video: View two tasks frequently used in the lab to create stress giving a
speech in front of strangers, and doing math computations out loud in front
of others. Notice how some subjects show obvious signs of stress, but in
some situations, cortisol changes suggest that even people who appear calm
are experiencing a physiological response associated with stress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYI6lCeeT5g
Video: Watch a video used by Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel in a landmark
study on social perception published in 1944. Their goal was to investigate
how we perceive other people, and they studied it by seeing how readily we
apply people-like interpretations to non-social stimuli.
http://intentionperception.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Heider_Flash.swf
1. Categorizing someone as a member of a social group can activate group
stereotypes. EEG research suggests that social categorization occurs quickly
and often automatically. What does this tell us about the likelihood of
stereotyping occurring? How can we use this information to develop ways
to stop stereotyping from happening?
2. Watch this video, similar to what was used by Fritz Heider and Marianne
Simmel in a landmark study on social perception published in 1944, and
imagine telling a friend what happened in the video.
http://
intentionperception.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Heider_Flash.swf. After
watching the video, think about the following: Did you describe the motion
of the objects solely in geometric terms (e.g., a large triangle moved from
the left to the right), or did you describe the movements as actions of
animate beings, maybe even of people (e.g., the circle goes into the house
and shuts the door)? In the original research, 33 of 34 subjects described
the action of the shapes using human terms. What does this tell us about
our tendency to mentalize?
3. Consider the types of things you find stressful. How many of them are social
in nature (e.g., are related to your interactions with other people)? Why do
you think our social relations have such potential for stress? In what ways
can social relations be beneficial and serve as a buffer for stress?
Vocabulary
Amygdala
A region located deep within the brain in the medial area (toward the center)
of the temporal lobes (parallel to the ears). If you could draw a line through
your eye sloping toward the back of your head and another line between your
two ears, the amygdala would be located at the intersection of these lines. The
amygdala is involved in detecting relevant stimuli in our environment and has
been implicated in emotional responses.
Automatic process
When a thought, feeling, or behavior occurs with little or no mental effort.
Typically, automatic processes are described as involuntary or spontaneous,
often resulting from a great deal of practice or repetition.
Cortisol
A hormone made by the adrenal glands, within the cortex. Cortisol helps the
body maintain blood pressure and immune function. Cortisol increases when
the body is under stress.
Electroencephalogram
A measure of electrical activity generated by the brains neurons.
Fight or flight response

The physiological response that occurs in response to a perceived threat,
preparing the body for actions needed to deal with the threat.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging

A measure of changes in the oxygenation of blood flow as areas in the brain
become active.
Functional neuroanatomy
Classifying how regions within the nervous system relate to psychology and
behavior.
Hormones
Chemicals released by cells in the brain or body that affect cells in other parts
of the brain or body.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis
A system that involves the hypothalamus (within the brain), the pituitary gland
(within the brain), and the adrenal glands (at the top of the kidneys). This system
helps maintain homeostasis (keeping the bodys systems within normal ranges)
by regulating digestion, immune function, mood, temperature, and energy use.
Through this, the HPA regulates the bodys response to stress and injury.
Ingroup
A social group to which an individual identifies or belongs.
Lesions
Damage or tissue abnormality due, for example, to an injury, surgery, or a
vascular problem.
Medial prefrontal cortex
An area of the brain located in the middle of the frontal lobes (at the front of
the head), active when people mentalize about the self and others.
Mentalizing
The act of representing the mental states of oneself and others. Mentalizing
allows humans to interpret the intentions, beliefs, and emotional states of
others.
Neuroendocrinology
The study of how the brain and hormones act in concert to coordinate the
physiology of the body.
Outgroup
A social group to which an individual does not identify or belong.
Simulation
Imaginary or real imitation of other peoples behavior or feelings.
Social categorization
The act of mentally classifying someone into a social group (e.g., as female,
elderly, a librarian).
Social support
A subjective feeling of psychological or physical comfort provided by family,
friends, and others.
Stereotypes
The beliefs or attributes we associate with a specific social group. Stereotyping
refers to the act of assuming that because someone is a member of a particular
group, he or she possesses the groups attributes. For example, stereotyping
occurs when we assume someone is unemotional just because he is man, or
particularly athletic just because she is African American.
Stress
A threat or challenge to our well-being. Stress can have both a psychological
component, which consists of our subjective thoughts and feelings about being
threatened or challenged, as well as a physiological component, which consists
of our bodys response to the threat or challenge (see fight or flight response).
Superior temporal sulcus
The sulcus (a fissure in the surface of the brain) that separates the superior
temporal gyrus from the middle temporal gyrus. Located in the temporal lobes
(parallel to the ears), it is involved in perception of biological motion or the
movement of animate objects.
Sympathetic nervous system
A branch of the autonomic nervous system that controls many of the bodys
internal organs. Activity of the SNS generally mobilizes the bodys fight or flight
response.
Temporal parietal junction
The area where the temporal lobes (parallel to the ears) and partial lobes (at
the top of the head toward the back) meet. This area is important in mentalizing
and distinguishing between the self and others.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Social Neuroscience by Tiffany A. Ito and Jennifer
T. Kubota is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Social Cognition and

Attitudes
Yanine D. Hess & Cynthia L. Pickett
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Social cognition is the area of social psychology that examines how people
perceive and think about their social world. This chapter provides an overview
of key topics within social cognition and attitudes, including judgmental
heuristics, social prediction, affective and motivational influences on judgment,
and explicit and implicit attitudes.
Learning Objectives
Learn
how we simplify the vast array of information in the world in a way
that allows us to make decisions and navigate our environments efficiently.
Understand
Determine
some of the social factors that influence how we reason.

if our reasoning processes are always conscious, and if not,
what are some
Understand
the
of the effects of automatic/nonconscious cognition.

the difference between explicit and implicit attitudes, and
implications they have for behavior.
Introduction
Imagine that you are walking on the street and see a man push an elderly woman
to the ground. You might immediately ask yourself, Why did he do that? This
is because we know intuitively that we can better understand the behavior of
others if we know the thoughts that contributed to the behavior. The area of
social psychology that focuses on how people think about others and their
social world is called social cognition. Researchers in this area study how people
make sense of themselves and others to make judgments, form attitudes, and
make predictions about the future. Much of the research in social cognition has
demonstrated that people are adept at distilling large amounts of information
into smaller, more usable chunks and that they possess many cognitive tools
that allow them to efficiently navigate their environments. This research has
also illuminated the many social factors that can influence these judgments
and predictions. Not only can our past experiences, expectations, motivations,
and moods impact our reasoning, but many of our decisions and behaviors can
be driven by unconscious processes and implicit attitudes that we are unaware
of having. The goal of this chapter is to highlight the mental tools we use to
navigate and make sense of a complex social world and describe some of the
emotional, motivational, and cognitive factors that affect our reasoning.
Simplifying Our Social World

Consider how much information you come across in any given day; just looking
around your bedroom, there are hundreds of objects, smells, and sounds. How
do we simplify all of this information in order to attend to what is important
and to make decisions quickly and efficiently? In part, we do this by forming
schemas of the various people, objects, situations, and events that we
encounter. A schema is a mental model or representation of a person, an object,
a situation, or an event. It is an organized body of general information or beliefs
nobaproject.com - Social Cognition and Attitudes
1073
that we develop from encounters with the person, object, or event, as well as
from information that we glean from secondhand sources. Rather than
spending copious amounts of time learning about each individual object that
we encounter (e.g., each new dog that we see), we can rely on our schemas to
tell us that a newly encountered dog probably barks, likes to run, and enjoys
dog treats. In this way, our schemas greatly reduce the amount of cognitive
work that we need to do and allow us to go beyond the information given
(Bruner, 1957).
We can hold schemas about almost any entityindividual people (person
schemas), ourselves (self-schemas), and recurring events (event schemas or
scripts). Each of these types of schemas is useful in their own way. For example,
event schemas allow us to navigate new situations in an efficient and seamless
manner. A script for dining at a restaurant would indicate that one should wait
to be seated by the host or hostess, that food should be ordered from a menu,
and that one is expected to pay the check at the end of the meal. Because the
majority of dining situations conform to this general format, most diners just
need to follow their scripts to know what is expected of them and how they
should behave, which greatly reduces their cognitive workload.
Another important way in which we simplify our social world is by employing
heuristics, which are mental shortcuts that reduce complex problem-solving
to more simple rule-based decisions. A common decision that people are faced
with is judging whether an object belongs to a particular category. To make this
classification, people may rely on the representativeness heuristic to arrive at
a quick decision (Kahneman & Tversky, 1972, 1973). Rather than engaging in
an in-depth consideration of the objects attributes, one can simply judge the
likelihood of the object belonging to the category based on the extent to which
the object appears similar to ones mental representation of the category. For
example, a perceiver may quickly judge a female to be a librarian based on the
fact that the female appears to be quiet, bookish, and introverted, which fits
the perceivers representation of what librarians are like. In many situations, an
1074
objects similarity to the category is a good indicator of its membership in that

category and an individual using the representativeness heuristic will come to
a correct judgment. However, when base-rate information conflicts with
representativeness information, use of this heuristic is less appropriate. For
example, if asked to judge whether a quiet, thin man who likes to read poetry
is a classics professor at an Ivy League university or a truck driver, the
representativeness heuristic would lead one to guess the man is an Ivy League
classics professor, despite the fact that there are much fewer Ivy League classics
professors than truck drivers.
In addition to judging whether an object belongs to a particular category,
we also attempt to judge the frequency of events. A commonly employed
heuristic for making this type of judgment is the availability heuristic, in which
people evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event on the basis of how
easily instances of it come to mind (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). Because more
commonly occurring events are more likely in general to be cognitively
accessible, use of the availability heuristic can lead to relatively good
approximations of frequency. However, use of the heuristic can be less reliable
when one is judging the frequency of relatively infrequent but highly accessible
events. For example, dying in a plane accident is a fairly rare occurrence, but
people may overestimate its occurrence because plane crashes tend to be
highly memorable and publicized.
In summary, despite the vast amount of information that people are
bombarded with on a daily basis, the mind has an entire kit of tools that allows
people to navigate this information efficiently. In addition to category and
frequency judgments, another common mental calculation that we engage in
is making predictions about the future. We rely on these predictions about the
future in order to guide our actions. When deciding what entre to select for
dinner, we may ask ourselves How happy will I be if I choose this over that?
and use the answer to that question to determine our choice. In the next section,
we examine individuals ability to accurately predict others behaviors, as well
1075
as their own future thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how these predictions
can impact their decisions.
Making Predictions About the Social World

Whenever we face a new decision, we have to predict our future behaviors or
feelings in order to choose the best course of action. If you have a paper due
in a week and have the option of going out to a party or working on the paper,
the decision of what to do rests on how much time you predict you will need
in order to write the paper, your prediction of how you would feel if you did
poorly on the paper, and your prediction of how harshly the professor will grade
it. In general, we can make predictions about others easily and based on
relatively little information. Research on thin-slice judgments has shown that
perceivers are able to make surprisingly accurate inferences about a persons
emotional state, personality traits, and even their sexual orientation based on
just snippets of informationfor example, a 10-second video clip (Ambady,
Bernieri, & Richeson, 2000; Ambady, Hallahan, & Conner, 1999; Ambady &
Rosenthal, 1993). Furthermore, these judgments are predictive of the targets
future behaviors. For example, one study found that students ratings of a
teachers warmth, enthusiasm, and attentiveness from a 30-second video clip
strongly predicted that teachers final student evaluations after an entire
semester (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1993). As would be expected, as the amount
of information available increases, many of these judgments become more
accurate (Carney, Colvin, & Hall, 2007).
Because we seem to be fairly adept at making predictions about others, one
might expect that predictions about the self would be foolproof given the
considerable amount of information one has about the self compared to others.
To an extent, research has supported this conclusionfor example, our own
predictions of our future academic performance are more accurate than a
peers prediction of our performance, and self-expressed interests better
1076
predict occupational choice than career inventories (Shrauger & Osberg, 1981).
Yet, it is not always the case that we hold greater insight into ourselves. While
self-reported personality traits predict certain behavioral tendencies to a
greater extent than a peers personality report of oneself, for certain behaviors,
peer reports are more accurate than self-reports (Kolar, Funder, & Colvin, 1996;
Vazire, 2010). Similarly, although we are generally aware of our knowledge, our
abilities, and our future actions, these perceptions are often overly positive,
and we display overconfidence in their accuracy (Metcalfe, 1998). For example,
we underestimate how much time it will take us to complete a task, whether it
is writing a paper, finishing a project at work, or building a bridgea
phenomenon known as the planning fallacy (Buehler, Griffin, & Ross, 1994).
The planning fallacy helps explain why so many college students end up pulling
all-nighters to finish writing assignments or study for exams. The tasks simply
end up taking longer than expected. On the positive side, the planning fallacy
can also lead individuals to pursue ambitious projects that may turn out to be
worthwhile, but would have been avoided had they known just how long it
would take.
The other important factor that affects our decision-making is our ability to
predict how we will feel about certain outcomes. In addition to predicting
whether we will feel positively or negatively, we also make predictions about
how strongly and for how long we will feel that way. Research demonstrates
that these predictions of ones future feelingsknown as affective forecasting
are accurate in some ways and limited in others (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007). We
are adept at predicting whether an event or future situation will make us feel
positively or negatively (Wilson & Gilbert, 2003), but often incorrectly predict
the strength or duration of those emotions. Predictions about future feelings
are influenced by the impact bias, the tendency for a person to overestimate
the intensity of their future feelings. For example, from comparing peoples
estimates of how they would feel after a specific event to the actual feelings of
people who have experienced this event, we know that people overestimate
1077
how badly they would feel after a negative event, such as losing a job and
overestimate how happy they would feel after a positive event, such as winning
the lottery (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bullman, 1978). People also exhibit a
durability bias. The durability bias refers to the tendency for people to
overestimate for how long positive and negative events will affect them. This
bias is much greater for predictions regarding negative events than positive
events and occurs because people are generally unaware of the many
psychological mechanisms that help them adapt to and cope with these events
(Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg, & Wheatley, 1998; Wilson, Wheatley, Meyers,
Gilbert, & Axsom, 2000).
In summary, individuals form impressions of themselves and others, make
predictions about the future, and use these judgments to inform their decisions.
However, these judgments are shaped by the tendency to view ourselves in an
overly positive light and our inability to appreciate the extent to which we
habituate to both positive and negative events. In the next section, we will
discuss how motivations, moods, and desires also shape social judgment.
Hot Cognition: The Influence of Motivations, Mood, and

Desires on Social Judgment
Although we may believe that we are always capable of rational and objective
thinking (for example, when we methodically weigh the pros and cons of two
laundry detergents in an unemotionali.e., coldmanner), our reasoning is
often influenced by our motivations and mood. Hot cognition refers to the
mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings. For example,
imagine that you received a poor grade on a class assignment. In this situation,
your ability to reason objectively about the quality of your assignment may be
limited by your anger toward the teacher, upset feelings over the bad grade,
and your motivation to maintain your belief that you are a good student. In this
sort of scenario, we may want the situation to turn out a particular way or want
1078
what we believe to be true. When we have these directional goals,we are

motivated to reach a particular outcome or judgment and do not process
information in a cold, objective manner. Directional goals can bias our thinking
in many ways, such as by leading to motivated skepticism, whereby we are
skeptical of evidence that goes against what we want to believe despite the
strength of the evidence (Ditto & Lopez, 1992). For example, individuals trust a
medical test less if the results suggest they have a deficiency compared to when
the results suggest that they are healthy. Through this motivated skepticism,
people can continue to believe what they want to believe even in the face of
nearly incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.
There are also situations in which we do not have a priori wishes for a
particular outcome, but our goals still bias our reasoning. For example, being
motivated to reach a correct or accurate decision can influence our reasoning
processes by making us more cautious and leading to indecision. In contrast,
sometimes an individual can be motivated to make a quick decision, without
being particularly concerned about the quality of the decision. Imagine trying
to choose a restaurant with a group of friends while you are very hungry. In
that situation, you may choose a restaurant as quickly as possible without caring
if the restaurant is the best pick or not. This need for closure is often induced
by time constraints (where a decision needs to be made quickly) as well as by
individual differences in the need for closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1997).
Some individuals are more uncomfortable with ambiguity than others and are
more motivated to reach clear, decisive conclusions.
Just as our goals and motivations influence our reasoning, our moods and
feelings also shape our thinking process and ultimate decisions. Many of our
decisions are based in part on our memories of past events, and the retrieval
of memories is affected by our current mood. For example, when you are sad,
it is easier to recall the sad memory of your dogs death than it is to recall the
happy moment when you received the dog. This tendency to recall memories
that are similar in valence to our current mood is known as mood-congruent
1079
memory (Blaney, 1986; Bower 1981, 1991; DeSteno, Petty, Wegener, & Rucker,
2000; Forgas, Bower, & Krantz, 1984; Schwarz, Strack, Kommer, & Wagner, 1987).
The mood that we were in when the memory was recorded becomes a retrieval
cue so that our present mood primes these congruent memories, making them
come to mind more easily (Fiedler, 2001). Furthermore, because the availability
of events can affect their perceived frequency (the availability heuristic), the
biased retrieval of congruent memories can then impact the subsequent
judgments we make (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). For example, if you are
retrieving many sad memories, you might conclude that you have had a tough,
depressing life.
In addition to our moods influencing the specific memories that we retrieve,
our moods can also influence global judgments that we make. This can
sometimes lead to inaccuracies when our current mood is irrelevant to the
judgment at hand. In a classic study demonstrating this effect, the researchers
found that study participants rated themselves as less satisfied with their lives
in general if they were asked on a day when it happened to be raining versus
sunny (Schwarz & Clore, 1983). However, this occurred only if the participants
were not aware of how the weather might be influencing their mood. In essence,
participants were in worse moods on rainy days than sunny days, and, if
unaware of the weather, participants incorrectly used their mood as evidence
of their overall life satisfaction.
In summary, our mood and motivations can influence both the way we think
and the decisions that we ultimately make. Mood can shape our thinking even
when the mood is irrelevant to the judgment, and our motivations can influence
our thinking even if we have no particular preference as to the outcome. Just
as we might be unaware of how our reasoning is influenced by our motives and
moods, research has found that our behaviors can be determined by
unconscious processes rather than intentional decisions, an idea we will explore
in the next section.
1080
Automaticity
Do we actively choose and control all our behaviors or do some of these
behaviors occur automatically? A large body of evidence now suggests that
many of our behaviors are, in fact, automatic. A behavior or process is
considered automatic if it is unintentional, uncontrollable, occurs outside of
conscious awareness, or is cognitively efficient (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999). A
process may be considered automatic even if it does not have all these features;
for example, driving is a fairly automatic process, but is clearly intentional.
Processes can become automatic through repetition, practice, or repeated
associations. For example, although driving can be very difficult and cognitively
effortful at the start, over time it becomes a relatively automatic process and
components of it can occur outside conscious awareness.
In addition to practice leading to the learning of automatic behaviors, some
automatic processes, such as fear responses, appear to be innate. For example,
people quickly detect negative stimuli, such as negative words, even when those
stimuli are presented subliminally (Dijksterhuis & Aarts, 2003; Pratto & John,
1991). This could represent an evolutionarily adaptive response that makes
individuals more likely to detect danger in their environment. Other innate
automatic processes may have evolved due to their pro-social outcomes. The
chameleon effectwhere individuals nonconsciously mimic the postures,
mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of their interaction
partnersis an example of how people may engage in certain behaviors
without conscious intention or awareness (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). Automatic
mimicry has been shown to lead to more positive social interactions and to
increase liking between the mimicked person and the mimicking person.
When concepts and behaviors have been repeatedly associated with each
other, the concept or behavior can be primedmade more cognitively
accessibleby exposing participants to the strongly associated concept. For
example, by presenting participants with the concept of a doctor, associated
1081
concepts such as nurse are primed. As a result, participants recognize the

word nurse more quickly after having first been presented with doctor
(Meyer, & Schvaneveldt, 1971). In a similar fashion, stereotypes can
automatically prime associated judgments and behaviors. Stereotypes are our
general beliefs about a group of people and, once activated, stereotypes may
guide our own judgments outside of conscious awareness. In a now classic
study, Patricia Devine (1989) primed study participants with words typically
associated with the group Blacks (e.g., blues, basketball) in order to activate the
stereotype of Blacks. Devine found that study participants who were primed
with the Black stereotype judged a targets ambiguous behaviors as being more
hostile (a trait stereotypically associated with Blacks) than nonprimed
participants. Research in this area suggests that the social contextwhich
constantly bombards us with conceptsmay be priming us to form particular
judgments and influencing our thoughts and behaviors.
In summary, there are many cognitive processes and behaviors that occur
outside our awareness or despite our intentions. Because automatic thoughts
and behaviors do not require the same level of cognitive processing as
conscious, deliberate thinking and acting, automaticity provides an efficient way
for individuals to process and respond to the social world. However, this
efficiency comes at a cost, as unconsciously held stereotypes and attitudes can
sometimes influence us to behave in unintended ways. We will discuss the
consequences of both consciously and unconsciously held attitudes in the next
section.
Attitudes and Attitude Measurement

When we encounter a new object or person, we often form an attitude toward
it. An attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a
particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993,
p. 1). In essence, our attitudes are a type of bias that predisposes us to responses
1082
that are positive or negative. For example, a negative attitude toward

mushrooms would predispose you to avoid them and think negatively of them
in other ways. This bias can be long term or short term and can be overridden
by another experience with the object. Thus, if you encounter a delicious
mushroom dish in the future, your negative attitude could change.
Traditionally, attitudes have been measured through explicit attitude
measures in which participants are directly asked to provide their attitude
toward various objects, people, or issues. For example, in a semanticdifferential, respondents are asked to provide evaluations of an attitude object
using a series of valenced response scales anchored by terms such as pleasant
or unpleasant (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957). In a Likert scale,
respondents are asked to indicate their agreement with various evaluative
statements, such as I believe that psychology is the most interesting major
(Likert, 1932). These explicit measures of attitudes can be used to predict
peoples actual behavior, but there are limitations to these measures. For one,
sometimes individuals are unaware of their true attitude, because they either
are undecided or have not given it much thought. Furthermore, even when
individuals are aware of their attitude, they might not want to admit their
attitude, such as when it is viewed negatively to hold that attitude. Thus, explicit
attitude measures may be unreliable when asking about controversial attitudes
or attitudes that are not widely accepted by society.
In order to avoid some of the limitations of explicit measures of attitudes,
many researchers use more subtle or covert ways of measuring attitudes that
do not suffer from these self-presentation concerns (Fazio & Olson, 2003). An
implicit attitude is an attitude that a person does not verbally or overtly express.
Thus, implicit measures of attitudes are measures in which researchers infer
the participants attitude rather than having the participant explicitly report it.
Many implicit measures accomplish this by recording the time it takes a
participant to label or categorize an attitude object (i.e., the person, concept,
or object of interest). Researchers then infer the participants attitude from
1083
those reaction times. One common implicit measure is the Implicit Association
Test (IAT;Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998),
which measures how quickly the participant can pair a concept (e.g., black and
white) with an attribute (e.g., good or bad). The participants response time in
pairing the concept with the attribute indicates how strongly they associate the
two. Another common implicit measure is the evaluative priming task(Fazio,
Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995), which measures how quickly the participant
can label the valence of the attitude object when it appears immediately after
a positive or negative image. The more quickly a participant can label the
attitude object after being primed with a positive versus negative image
indicates how positively they evaluate the object.
Individuals implicit attitudes are sometimes inconsistent with their explicitly
held attitudes. Hence, implicit measures may reveal biases that participants do
not report on explicit measures. As a result, implicit attitude measures are
especially useful for examining the pervasiveness and strength of controversial
attitudes and stereotypic associations, such as racial biases or associations
between race and violence. For example, research using the IAT has shown that
about 66% of white respondents have a negative bias toward blacks (Nosek,
Banaji, & Greenwald, 2002), that bias on the IAT against Blacks is associated
with more discomfort during an interracial interaction (McConnell, & Leibold,
2001), and that implicit associations linking Blacks to violence are associated
with a greater tendency to shoot unarmed Black targets in a video game (Payne,
2001). Thus, even though individuals are often unaware of their implicit
attitudes, these attitudes can have serious implications for their behavior,
especially when these individuals do not have the cognitive resources available
to override the attitudes influence.
1084
Conclusion
Decades of research on social cognition and attitudes has examined many of
the tricks and tools that we use to efficiently process the limitless amounts
of social information that we encounter in our lives. These tools are quite useful
for organizing the information that we encounter and arriving at quick
decisions. When you see an individual engage in a behavior, such as seeing a
man push an elderly lady to the ground, you form judgments about his
personality, predictions about the likelihood of him engaging in similar
behaviors in the future, as well as predictions about the elderly womans feelings
and how you would feel if you were in her position. As the research presented
in this chapter demonstrates, we are adept and efficient at making these
judgments and predictions, but these judgments are not made in a vacuum.
Ultimately, our perception of the social world is a subjective experience, and,
consequently, our decisions are influenced by our experiences, expectations,
emotions, motivations, and current contexts. By being aware of when our
judgments are most accurate and how our judgments are shaped by these
social influences, we are in a much better position to appreciate, and potentially
counter, their effects.
1085
Outside Resources
Video: Daniel Gilbert discussing affective forecasting.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xebnl3_dan-gilbert-on-what-affective-forec_people#.
UQlwDx3WLm4
Video: Focus on heuristics.
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/heuristics.html
Web: BBC Horizon documentary How to Make Better Decisions that discusses
many chapter topics (Part 1).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul-FqOfX-t8
Web: Implicit Attitudes Test.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
1. Describe your event-schema, or script, for an event that you encounter
regularly (e.g., dining at a restaurant). Now, attempt to articulate a script for
an event that you have encountered only once or a few times. How are these
scripts different? How confident are you in your ability to navigate these
two events?
2. Think of a time when you made a decision that you thought would make
you very happy (e.g., purchasing an item). To what extent were you accurate
or inaccurate? In what ways were you wrong, and why do you think you
were wrong?
3. What is an issue you feel strongly about (e.g., abortion, death penalty)? How
would you react if research demonstrated that your opinion was wrong?
What would it take before you would believe the evidence?
4. Take an implicit association test at the Project Implicit website (https://
implicit.harvard.edu/implicit). How do your results match or mismatch your
explicit attitudes.
Vocabulary
Affective forecasting
Predicting how one will feel in the future after some event or decision.
Attitude
A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with
some degree of favor or disfavor.
Automatic
A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional,
uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively
efficient.
Availability heuristic
A heuristic in which the likelihood of an object belonging to a category is
evaluated based on the extent to which the object appears similar to ones
mental representation of the category.
Chameleon effect
The tendency for individuals to nonconsciously mimic the postures,
mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of ones interaction
partners.
Directional goals
Directional goals
Durability bias
A bias in affective forecasting in which one underestimates for how long one
will feel an emotion after some event.
Evaluative priming task

An implicit attitude task that assesses the extent to which an attitude object is
associated with a positive or negative valence by measuring the time it takes a
person to label an adjective as good or bad after being presented with an
attitude object.
Explicit attitude
An attitude that is consciously held and can be reported on by the person
holding the attitude.
Heuristics
A mental shortcut or rule of thumb that reduces complex mental problems to
more simple rule-based decisions.
Hot cognition
The mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings.
Impact bias
A bias in affective forecasting in which one underestimates the strength or
intensity of emotion one will experience after some event.
Implicit Association Test

An implicit attitude task that assesses a persons automatic associations
between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.
Implicit attitude
An attitude that a person cannot verbally or overtly state.
Implicit measures of attitudes

Measures of attitudes in which researchers infer the participants attitude rather
than having the participant explicitly report it.
Mood-congruent memory
The tendency to be better able to recall memories that have a mood similar to
our current mood.
Motivated skepticism
A form of bias that can result from having a directional goal in which one is
skeptical of evidence despite its strength because it goes against what one
wants to believe.
Need for closure

The desire to come to a decision that will resolve ambiguity and conclude an
issue.
Planning fallacy
A cognitive bias in which one underestimates how long it will take to complete
a task.
Primed
A process by which a concept or behavior is made more cognitively accessible
or likely to occur through the presentation of an associated concept.
Representativeness heuristic
A heuristic in which the frequency or likelihood of an event is evaluated based
on how easily instances of it come to mind.
Schema
A mental model or representation that organizes the important information
about a thing, person, or event (also known as a script).
Social cognition
The study of how people think about the social world.
Stereotypes
Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Social Cognition and Attitudes by Yanine D. Hess
and Cynthia L. Pickett is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Persuasion: So Easily Fooled

Robert V. Levine
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter introduces several major principles in the process of persuasion.
It offers an overview of the different paths to persuasion. It then describes how
mindless processing makes us vulnerable to undesirable persuasion and some
of the tricks that may be used against us.
Learning Objectives
Recognize the difference between the central and peripheral routes to

persuasion.
Understand the concepts of trigger features, fixed action patterns,

heuristics, and mindless thinking, and how these processes are essential to
our survival but, at the same time, leave us vulnerable to exploitation.
Understand some common tricks persuasion artists may use to take

advantage of us.
Use this knowledge to make you less susceptible to unwanted persuasion.
Introduction
Persuasion has been defined as the process by which a message induces
change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors (Myers, 2011). It can take a multitude
of forms with profoundly different consequences. It may, for example, differ in
whether it targets public compliance or private acceptance, is short-term or
long-term, whether it involves slowly escalating commitments or sudden
interventions and, most of all, in the benevolence of its intentions. When
persuasion is well-meaning, we might call it education. When it is manipulative,
it might be called mind control (Levine, 2003).
Whatever the content, however, there is a similarity to the form of the
process itself. As the advertising commentator Sid Bernstein once observed,
Of course, you sell candidates for political office the same way you sell soap
or sealing wax or whatever; because, when you get right down to it, thats the
only way anything is sold (Levine, 2003).
Persuasion is one of the most studied of all social psychology phenomena.
This chapter provides an introduction to several of its most important
components.
Two Paths to Persuasion

Persuasion theorists distinguish between the central and peripheral routes to
persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). The central route employs direct, relevant,
logical messages. It is expected that your audience is motivated, will think
carefully about what you presented, and will react on the basis of your
arguments. The central route is intended to produce enduring agreement. This
is, for example, the approach taken by responsible educators.
nobaproject.com - Persuasion: So Easily Fooled
1102
The peripheral route relies on superficial cues that have little to do with
logic. The peripheral approach is the salesmans way of thinking. It requires a
target who isnt thinking carefully about what you are saying. It requires low
effort from the target and often exploits rule-of-thumb heuristics that trigger
mindless reactions (see below). It may be intended to persuade you to do
something you do not want to do and might later be sorry you did.
Advertisements, for example, may show celebrities, cute animals, beautiful
scenery, or provocative sexual images that have nothing to do with the product.
The peripheral approach is also common in the darkest of persuasion programs,
such as those of dictators and cult leaders. Adolph Hitler, who developed
perhaps the most horrific of propaganda machines, observed that the message
must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until
the last member of the public understands.
Triggers and Fixed Action Patterns

The central route emphasizes objective communication of information. The
peripheral route relies on psychological techniques. These techniques may take
advantage of a targets not thinking carefully about the message. The process
mirrors a phenomenon in animal behavior known as fixed action patterns
(FAPs). These are sequences of behavior that occur in exactly the same fashion,
in exactly the same order, every time theyre elicited. Cialdini (2008) compares
it to a prerecorded tape that is turned on and, once it is, always plays to its
finish. He describes it is as if the animal were turning on a tape recorder (Cialdini,
2008). There is the feeding tape, the territorial tape, the migration tape, the
nesting tape, the aggressive tapeeach sequence ready to be played when a
situation calls for it.
1103
A notable characteristic of fixed action patterns is how they are activated.

At first glance, it appears the animal is responding to the overall situation. For
example, the maternal tape appears to be set off when a mother sees her
hungry baby, or the aggressive tape seems to be activated when an enemy
invades the animals territory. It turns out, however, that the on/off switch may
actually be controlled by a specific, minute detail of the situationmaybe a
sound or shape or patch of color. These are the hot buttons of the biological
worldwhat Cialdini refers to as trigger features and biologists call
releasers.
Most of the time these shortcuts work. But occasionally they do not. In the
spring, for example, the male three-spined stickleback lays claim to a territory.
Any approaching male is met with a threat posture or maybe an aggressive
attack. The releaser for the territorial response, it turns out, isnt so much the
invading male as simply the bright red stripe on his underside. The ethologist
Niko Tinbergen found that the male sticklebacks in his aquarium would attack
any object with a red stripe, even an amorphous-looking lump of wax with a
red underside, but would completely ignore a carefully crafted replica of a male
stickleback that didnt have a red belly (Barrett, 2010).
Humans are not so different. The effectiveness of peripheral persuasion
relies on our frequent reliance on fixed action patterns that are triggered by
details of the situation. These mindless, rules-of-thumb are generally effective
shortcuts for coping with the overload of information we must confront. They
serve as heuristicsmental shortcuts that enable us to make decisions and
solve problems quickly and efficiently. They also, however, make us vulnerable
to uninvited exploitation through the peripheral route of persuasion.
1104
The Source of Persuasion: The Triad of Trustworthiness
Effective persuasion requires trusting the source of the communication. Studies

have identified three characteristics that lead to trust: perceived authority,
honesty, and likability. When the source appears to have any or all of these
characteristics, people not only are more willing to agree to their request but
are willing to do so without carefully considering the facts. We assume we are
on safe ground and are happy to shortcut the tedious process of informed
decision making. As a result, we are more susceptible to messages and requests,
no matter their particular content or how peripheral they may be.
Authority
From earliest childhood, we learn to rely on authority figures for sound decision
making because their authority signifies status and power, as well as expertise.
These two facets often work together. Authorities such as parents and teachers
are not only our primary sources of wisdom while we grow up, but they control
us and our access to the things we want. In addition, we have been taught to
believe that respect for authority is a moral virtue. As adults, it is natural to
transfer this respect to societys designated authorities, such as judges, doctors,
bosses, and religious leaders. We assume their positions give them special
1105
access to information and power. Usually we are correct, so that our willingness
to defer to authorities becomes a convenient shortcut to sound decision
making. Uncritical trust in authority may, however, lead to bad decisions.
Perhaps the most famous study ever conducted in social psychology
demonstrated that, when conditions were set up just so, two-thirds of a sample
of psychologically normal men were willing to administer potentially lethal
shocks to a stranger when an apparent authority in a laboratory coat ordered
them to do so (Milgram, 1974; Burger, 2009).
Uncritical trust in authority can be problematic for several reasons. First,
even if the source of the message is a legitimate, well-intentioned authority,
they may not always be correct. Second, when respect for authority becomes
mindless, expertise in one domain may be confused with expertise in general.
To assume there is credibility when a successful actor promotes a cold remedy,
or when a psychology professor offers his views about politics, can lead to
problems. Third, the authority may not be legitimate. It is not difficult to fake a
college degree or professional credential or to buy an official-looking badge or
uniform.
Honesty
Honesty is the moral dimension of trustworthiness. Persuasion professionals
have long understood how critical it is to their efforts. Marketers, for example,
dedicate exorbitant resources to developing and maintaining an image of
honesty. A trusted brand or company name becomes a mental shortcut for
consumers. It is estimated that some 50,000 new products come out each year.
Forrester Research, a marketing research company, calculates that children
have seen almost six million ads by the age of 16. An established brand name
helps us cut through this volume of information. It signals we are in safe
territory. The real suggestion to convey, advertising leader Theodore
MacManus observed in 1910, is that the man manufacturing the product is an
1106
honest man, and the product is an honest product, to be preferred above all
others (Fox, 1997).
Likability
If we know that celebrities arent really experts, and that they are being paid to
say what theyre saying, why do their endorsements sell so many products?
Ultimately, it is because we like them. More than any single quality, we trust
people we like. Roger Ailes, a public relations adviser to Presidents Reagan and
George H.W. Bush, observed: If you could master one element of personal
communication that is more powerful than anything . . . it is the quality of being
likeable. I call it the magic bullet, because if your audience likes you, theyll
forgive just about everything else you do wrong. If they dont like you, you can
hit every rule right on target and it doesnt matter.
The mix of qualities that make a person likable are complex and often do
not generalize from one situation to another. One clear finding, however, is that
physically attractive people tend to be liked more. In fact, we prefer them to a
disturbing extent: Various studies have shown we perceive attractive people as
smarter, kinder, stronger, more successful, more socially skilled, better poised,
better adjusted, more exciting, more nurturing, and, most important, of higher
moral character. All of this is based on no other information than their physical
appearance (e.g., Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972).
1107
Manipulating the Perception of Trustworthiness

The perception of trustworthiness is highly susceptible to manipulation. Levine
(2003) lists some of the most common psychological strategies that are used
to achieve this effect:
Testimonials and Endorsement

This technique employs someone who people already trust to testify about the
product or message being sold. The technique goes back to the earliest days
of advertising when satisfied customers might be shown describing how a
patent medicine cured their life-long battle with nerves or how Dr. Scotts
Electric Hair Brush healed their baldness (My hair (was) falling out, and I was
rapidly becoming bald, but since using the brush a thick growth of hair has
made its appearance, quite equal to that I had before previous to its falling out,
reported a satisfied customer in an 1884 ad for the product).
Celebrity endorsements are a frequent feature in commercials aimed at
children. The practice has aroused considerable ethical concern, and research
shows the concern is warranted. In a study funded by the Federal Trade
Commission, more than 400 children ages 8 to 14 were shown one of various
commercials for a model racing set. Some of the commercials featured an
endorsement from a famous race car driver, some included real racing footage,
and others included neither. Children who watched the celebrity endorser not
1108
only preferred the toy cars more but were convinced the endorser was an expert
about the toys. This held true for children of all ages. In addition, they believed
the toy race cars were bigger, faster, and more complex than real race cars they
saw on film. They were also less likely to believe the commercial was staged
(Ross et al., 1984).
Presenting the Message as Education

The message may be framed as objective information. Salespeople, for
example, may try to convey the impression they are less interested in selling a
product than helping you make the best decision. The implicit message is that
being informed is in everyones best interest, because they are confident that
when you understand what their product has to offer that you will conclude it
is the best choice. Levine (2003) describes how, during training for a job as a
used car salesman, he was instructed: If the customer tells you they do not
want to be bothered by a salesperson, your response is Im not a salesperson,
Im a product consultant. I dont give prices or negotiate with you. Im simply
here to show you our inventory and help you find a vehicle that will fit your
needs.
Word of Mouth
Imagine you read an ad that claims a new restaurant has the best food in your
city. Now, imagine a friend tells you this new restaurant has the best food in
the city. Who are you more likely to believe? Surveys show we turn to people
around us for many decisions. A 1995 poll found that 70% of Americans rely on
personal advice when selecting a new doctor. The same poll found that 53% of
moviegoers are influenced by the recommendation of a person they know. In
another survey, 91% said theyre likely to use another persons recommendation
when making a major purchase.
1109
Persuasion professionals may exploit these tendencies. Often, in fact, they

pay for the surveys. Using this data, they may try to disguise their message as
word of mouth from your peers. For example, Cornerstone Promotion, a leading
marketing firm that advertises itself as under-the-radar marketing specialists,
sometimes hires children to log into chat rooms and pretend to be fans of one
of their clients or pays students to throw parties where they subtly circulate
marketing material among their classmates.
The Maven
More persuasive yet, however, is to involve peers face-to-face. Rather than
overinvesting in formal advertising, businesses and organizations may plant
seeds at the grassroots level hoping that consumers themselves will then spread
the word to each other. The seeding process begins by identifying so-called
information hubsindividuals the marketers believe can and will reach the
most other people.
The seeds may be planted with established opinion leaders. Software
companies, for example, give advance copies of new computer programs to
professors they hope will recommend it to students and colleagues.
Pharmaceutical companies regularly provide travel expenses and speaking fees
to researchers willing to lecture to health professionals about the virtues of
their drugs. Hotels give travel agents free weekends at their resorts in the hope
theyll later recommend them to clients seeking advice.
There is a Yiddish word, maven, which refers to a person whos an expert or
a connoisseur, as in a friend who knows where to get the best price on a sofa
or the co-worker you can turn to for advice about where to buy a computer.
They (a) know a lot of people, (b) communicate a great deal with people, (c) are
more likely than others to be asked for their opinions, and (d) enjoy spreading
the word about what they know and think. Most important of all, they are
trusted. As a result, mavens are often targeted by persuasion professionals to
1110
help spread their message.
Other Tricks of Persuasion

There are many other mindless, mental shortcutsheuristics and fixed action
patternsthat leave us susceptible to persuasion. A few examples:
Reciprocity
There is no duty more indispensable than that of returning a kindness, wrote
Cicero. Humans are motivated by a sense of equity and fairness. When someone
does something for us or gives us something, we feel obligated to return the
favor in kind. It triggers one of the most powerful of social norms, the reciprocity
rule, whereby we feel compelled to repay, in equitable value, what another
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person has given to us.

Gouldner (1960), in his seminal study of the reciprocity rule, found it appears
in every culture. It lays the basis for virtually every type of social relationship,
from the legalities of business arrangements to the subtle exchanges within a
romance. A salesperson may offer free gifts, concessions, or their valuable time
in order to get us to do something for them in return. For example, if a colleague
helps you when youre busy with a project, you might feel obliged to support
her ideas for improving team processes. You might decide to buy more from a
supplier if they have offered you an aggressive discount. Or, you might give
money to a charity fundraiser who has given you a flower in the street (Cialdini,
2008; Levine, 2003).
Social Proof
If everyone is doing it, it must be right. People are more likely to work late if
others on their team are doing the same, to put a tip in a jar that already contains
money, or eat in a restaurant that is busy. This principle derives from two
extremely powerful social forcessocial comparison and conformity. We
compare our behavior to what others are doing and, if there is a discrepancy
between the other person and ourselves, we feel pressure to change (Cialdini,
2008).
The principle of social proof is so common that it easily passes unnoticed.
Advertisements, for example, often consist of little more than attractive social
models appealing to our desire to be one of the group (They pick Pepsi, time
after time). Sometimes social cues are presented with such specificity that it
is as if the target is being manipulated by a puppeteerfor example, the laugh
tracks on situation comedies that instruct one not only when to laugh but how
to laugh. Studies find these techniques work. Fuller and Skeehy-Skeffington
(1974), for example, found that audiences laughed longer and more when a
laugh track accompanied the show than when it did not, even though
1112
respondents knew the laughs they heard were connived by a technician from
old tapes that had nothing to do with the show they were watching. People are
particularly susceptible to social proof (a) when they are feeling uncertain, and
(b) if the people in the comparison group seem to be similar to ourselves. As P.
T. Barnum once said, Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.
Commitment and Consistency

Westerners have a desire to both feel and be perceived to act consistently. Once
we have made an initial commitment, it is more likely that we will agree to
subsequent commitments that follow from the first. Knowing this, a clever
persuasion artist might induce someone to agree to a difficult-to-refuse small
request and follow this with progressively larger requests that were his target
from the beginning. The process is known as getting a foot in the door and
then slowly escalating the commitments.
Paradoxically, we are less likely to say No to a large request than we are to
a small request when it follows this pattern. This can have costly consequences.
Levine (2003), for example, found ex-cult members tend to agree with the
statement: Nobody ever joins a cult. They just postpone the decision to leave.
A Door in the Face

Some techniques bring a paradoxical approach to the escalation sequence by
pushing a request to or beyond its acceptable limit and then backing off. In the
door-in-the-face (sometimes called the reject-then-compromise) procedure,
the persuader begins with a large request they expect will be rejected. They
want the door to be slammed in their face. Looking forlorn, they now follow
this with a smaller request, which, unknown to the customer, was their target
all along.
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In one study, for example, Mowen and Cialdini (1980), posing as

representatives of the fictitious California Mutual Insurance Co., asked
university students walking on campus if theyd be willing to fill out a survey
about safety in the home or dorm. The survey, students were told, would take
about 15 minutes. Not surprisingly, most of the students declinedonly one
out of four complied with the request. In another condition, however, the
researchers door-in-the-faced them by beginning with a much larger request.
The survey takes about two hours, students were told. Then, after the subject
declined to participate, the experimenters retreated to the target request: . . .
look, one part of the survey is particularly important and is fairly short. It will
take only 15 minutes to administer. Almost twice as many now complied.
And Thats Not All!

The thats-not-all technique also begins with the salesperson asking a high price.
This is followed by several seconds pause during which the customer is kept
from responding. The salesperson then offers a better deal by either lowering
the price or adding a bonus product. Thats-not-all is a variation on door-in-theface. Whereas the latter begins with a request that will be rejected, however,
thats-not-all gains its influence by putting the customer on the fence, allowing
them to waver and then offering them a comfortable way off.
Burger (1986) demonstrated the technique in a series of field experiments.
In one study, for example, an experimenter-salesman told customers at a
student bake sale that cupcakes cost 75 cents. As this price was announced,
another salesman held up his hand and said, Wait a second, briefly consulted
with the first salesman, and then announced (thats-not-all) that the price
today included two cookies. In a control condition, customers were offered the
cupcake and two cookies as a package for 75 cents right at the onset. The bonus
worked magic: Almost twice as many people bought cupcakes in the thats-notall condition (73%) than in the control group (40%).
1114
The Sunk Cost Trap

Sunk cost is a term used in economics referring to nonrecoverable investments
of time or money. The trap occurs when a persons aversion to loss impels them
to throw good money after bad, because they dont want to waste their earlier
investment. This is vulnerable to manipulation. The more time and energy a
cult recruit can be persuaded to spend with the group, the more invested they
will feel, and, consequently, the more of a loss it will feel to leave that group.
Consider the advice of billionaire investor Warren Buffet: When you find
yourself in a hole, the best thing you can do is stop digging (Levine, 2003).
Scarcity and Psychological Reactance

People tend to perceive things as more attractive when their availability is
limited, or when they stand to lose the opportunity to acquire them on favorable
terms (Cialdini, 2008). Anyone who has encountered a willful child is familiar
with this principle. In a classic study, Brehm & Weinraub (1977), for example,
placed 2-year-old boys in a room with a pair of equally attractive toys. One of
the toys was placed next to a plexiglass wall; the other was set behind the
plexiglass. For some boys, the wall was 1 foot high, which allowed the boys to
easily reach over and touch the distant toy. Given this easy access, they showed
no particular preference for one toy or the other. For other boys, however, the
wall was a formidable 2 feet high, which required them to walk around the
barrier to touch the toy. When confronted with this wall of inaccessibility, the
boys headed directly for the forbidden fruit, touching it three times as quickly
as the accessible toy.
Research shows that much of that 2-year-old remains in adults, too. People
resent being controlled. When a person seems too pushy, we get suspicious,
annoyed, often angry, and yearn to retain our freedom of choice more than
before. Brehm (1966) labeled this the principle of psychological reactance.
1115
The most effective way to circumvent psychological reactance is to first get

a foot in the door and then escalate the demands so gradually that there is
seemingly nothing to react against. Hassan (1988), who spent many years as a
higher-up in the Moonies cult, describes how they would shape behaviors
subtly at first, then more forcefully. The material that would make up the new
identity of a recruit was doled out gradually, piece by piece, only as fast as the
person was deemed ready to assimilate it. The rule of thumb was to tell him
only what he can accept. He offered this analogy: You wouldnt feed a baby
thick pieces of steak, would you? You have to feed it something it can digest,
like formula. Well, these people (potential converts) are spiritual babies. Dont
sell them more than they can handle, or they will die . . . . If a recruit started
getting angry because he was learning too much about us, the person working
on him would back off and let another member move in to spoon feed some
pabulum.
Defending Against Unwelcome Persuasion

The most commonly used approach to help people defend against unwanted
persuasion is known as the inoculation method. Research has shown that
people who are subjected to weak versions of a persuasive message are less
vulnerable to stronger versions later on, in much the same way that being
exposed to small doses of a virus immunizes you against full-blown attacks. In
a classic study by McGuire (1964), subjects were asked to state their opinion on
an issue. They were then mildly attacked for their position and then given an
opportunity to refute the attack. When later confronted by a powerful argument
against their initial opinion, these subjects were more resistant than were a
control group. In effect, they developed defenses that rendered them immune.
1116
Sagarin and his colleagues have developed a more aggressive version of this
technique that they refer to as stinging (Sagarin, Cialdini, Rice, & Serna, 2002).
Their studies focused on the popular advertising tactic whereby well-known
authority figures are employed to sell products they know nothing about, for
example, ads showing a famous astronaut pontificating on Rolex watches. In a
first experiment, they found that simply forewarning people about the
deviousness of these ads had little effect on peoples inclination to buy the
product later. Next, they stung the subjects. This time, they were immediately
confronted with their gullibility. Take a look at your answer to the first question.
Did you find the ad to be even somewhat convincing? If so, then you got fooled. ...
Take a look at your answer to the second question. Did you notice that this
stockbroker was a fake? They were then asked to evaluate a new set of ads.
The sting worked. These subjects were not only more likely to recognize the
manipulativeness of deceptive ads; they were also less likely to be persuaded
by them.
Anti-vulnerability trainings such as these can be helpful. Ultimately, however,
the most effective defense against unwanted persuasion is to accept just how
vulnerable we are. One must, first, accept that it is normal to be vulnerable and,
second, to learn to recognize the danger signs when we are falling prey. To be
forewarned is to be forearmed.
Conclusion
This chapter has provided a brief introduction to the psychological processes
and subsequent tricks involved in persuasion. It has emphasized the
peripheral route of persuasion because this is when we are most vulnerable to
psychological manipulation. These vulnerabilities are side effects of normal
and usually adaptive psychological processes. Mindless heuristics offer
shortcuts for coping with a hopelessly complicated world. They are necessities
for human survival. All, however, underscore the dangers that accompany any
1117
mindless thinking.
1118
Outside Resources
Book: Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably irrational. New York, NY: Harper.
Book: Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Boston,
MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Book: Gass, R., & Seiter, J. (2010). Persuasion, social influence, and compliance
gaining (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Book: Kahneman, D. (2012). Thinking fast and slow. New York, NY: Farrar,
Straus & Giroux.
Book: Tavris, C., & Aronson, E. (2011). Mistakes were made (but not by me).
New York, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Video: A brief, entertaining interview with the celebrity pickpocket shows

how easily we can be fooled. See A Pickpockets Tale at
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/video-the-art-of-pickpocketing.
html
Video: Cults employ extreme versions of many of the principles in this
chapter. An excellent documentary tracing the history of the Jonestown cult
is the PBS American Experience production, Jonestown: The Life and Death
of Peoples Temple at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/jonestownintroduction/
Video: Philip Zimbardos now-classic video, Quiet Rage, offers a powerful,
insightful description of his famous Stanford prison study
http://www.prisonexp.org/documentary.htm
Video: The documentary Outfoxed provides an excellent example of how
persuasion can be masked as news and education.
http://www.outfoxed.org/
Video: The video, The Science of Countering Terrorism: Psychological
Perspectives, a talk by psychologist Fathali Moghaddam, is an excellent
introduction to the process of terrorist recruitment and thinking
http://sciencestage.com/v/32330/fathali-moghaddam-science-cafe-the-scienceof-countering-terrorism-psychological-perspectives.html
1. Imagine you are commissioned to create an ad to sell a new beer. Can you
give an example of an ad that would rely on the central route? Can you give
an example of an ad that would rely on the peripheral route?
2. The reciprocity principle can be exploited in obvious ways, such as giving a
customer a free sample of a product. Can you give an example of a less
obvious way it might be exploited? What is a less obvious way that a cult
leader might use it to get someone under his or her grip?
3. Which trick in this chapter are you, personally, most prone to? Give a
personal example of this. How might you have avoided it?
Vocabulary
Central route to persuasion
Persuasion that employs direct, relevant, logical messages.
Fixed action patterns (FAPs)

Sequences of behavior that occur in exactly the same fashion, in exactly the
same order, every time they are elicited.
Foot in the door

Obtaining a small, initial commitment.
Gradually escalating commitments

A pattern of small, progressively escalating demands is less likely to be rejected
than a single large demand made all at once.
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts that enable people to make decisions and solve problems
quickly and efficiently.
Peripheral route to persuasion

Persuasion that relies on superficial cues that have little to do with logic.
Psychological reactance
A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit
freedoms.
Social proof
The mental shortcut based on the assumption that, if everyone is doing it, it
must be right.
The norm of reciprocity
The normative pressure to repay, in equitable value, what another person has
given to us.
The rule of scarcity
People tend to perceive things as more attractive when their availability is
limited, or when they stand to lose the opportunity to acquire them on favorable
terms.
The triad of trust
We are most vulnerable to persuasion when the source is perceived as an
authority, as honest and likable.
Trigger features
Specific, sometimes minute, aspects of a situation that activate fixed action
patterns.
Reference List
Barrett, D. (2010). Supernormal stimuli: How primal urges overran their
evolutionary purpose. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Brehm, J. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York, NY: Academic
Press.
Brehm, S. S., & Weinraub, M. (1977). Physical barriers and psychological
reactance: Two-year-olds responses to threats to freedom. Journal of
Burger, J. M. (2009). Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?
American Psychologist, 64(1), 111.
Burger, J. M. (1986). Increasing compliance by improving the deal: The thatsnot-all technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 277283.
Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn
and Bacon.
Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285290
Fox, Stephen (1997). The mirror makers: A history of American advertising and
its creators. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Fuller, R. G., & Sheehy-Skeffington, A. (1974). Effects of group laughter on
responses to humorous materials: A replication and extension.
Psychological Reports, 35, 531534.
Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement.

American Sociological Review, 25, 161178.
Hassan, S. (1988). Combating cult mind control. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.
Levine, R. (2003). The power of persuasion: How were bought and sold.
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
McGuire, W. (1964). Inducing resistance to persuasion: Some contemporary
approaches. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social
psychology (Vol. 1, p. 306). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York,
NY: Harper & Row.
Mowen, J. C., & Cialdini, R. B. (1980). On implementing the door-in-the-face
compliance technique in a business context. Journal of Marketing Research,
17, 253258.
Myers, David (2011). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of
persuasion. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social
psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 123205). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Ross, R. P., Campbell, T., Wright, J. C., Huston, A. C., Rice, M. L., & Turk, P. (1984).
When celebrities talk, children listen: An experimental analysis of childrens
responses to TV ads with celebrity endorsement. Journal of Applied
Sagarin, B. J., Cialdini, R. B., Rice, W. E., & Serna, S. B. (2002). Dispelling the illusion
of invulnerability: The motivations and mechanisms of resistance to
persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 526541.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Persuasion: So Easily Fooled by Robert V. Levine
Conformity and Obedience

Jerry M. Burger
Santa Clara University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
We often change our attitudes and behaviors to match the attitudes and
behaviors of the people around us. One reason for this conformity is a concern
about what other people think of us. This process was demonstrated in a classic
study in which college students deliberately gave wrong answers to a simple
visual judgment task rather than go against the group. Another reason we
conform to the norm is because other people often have information we do
not, and relying on norms can be a reasonable strategy when we are uncertain
about how we are supposed to act. Unfortunately, we frequently misperceive
how the typical person acts, which can contribute to problems such as the
excessive binge drinking often seen in college students. Obeying orders from
an authority figure can sometimes lead to disturbing behavior. This danger was
illustrated in a famous study in which participants were instructed to administer
painful electric shocks to another person in what they believed to be a learning
experiment. Despite vehement protests from the person receiving the shocks,
most participants continued the procedure when instructed to do so by the
experimenter. The findings raise questions about the power of blind obedience
in deplorable situations such as atrocities and genocide. They also raise
concerns about the ethical treatment of participants in psychology
experiments.
Learning Objectives
Become aware of how widespread conformity is in our lives and some of

the ways each of us changes our attitudes and behavior to match the norm.
Understand the two primary reasons why people often conform to

perceived norms.
Appreciate how obedience to authority has been examined in laboratory

studies and some of the implications of the findings from these
investigations.
Consider some of the remaining issues and sources of controversy

surrounding Milgrams obedience studies.
Conformity
When he was a teenager, my son often enjoyed looking at photographs of me
and my wife taken when we were in high school. He laughed at the hairstyles,
the clothing, and the kind of glasses people wore back then. And when he was
through with his ridiculing, we would point out that no one is immune to
fashions and fads and that someday his children will probably be equally
amused by his high school photographs and the trends he found so normal at
the time.
Everyday observation confirms that we often adopt the actions and attitudes
of the people around us. Trends in clothing, music, foods, and entertainment
are obvious. But our views on political issues, religious questions, and lifestyles
also reflect to some degree the attitudes of the people we interact with. Similarly,
decisions about behaviors such as smoking and drinking are influenced by
whether the people we spend time with engage in these activities. Psychologists
refer to this widespread tendency to act and think like the people around us as
conformity.
What causes all this conformity? To start, humans may possess an inherent
tendency to imitate the actions of others. Although we usually are not aware
of it, we often mimic the gestures, body posture, language, talking speed, and
many other behaviors of the people we interact with. Researchers find that this
mimicking increases the connection between people and allows our
interactions to flow more smoothly (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999).
Beyond this automatic tendency to imitate others, psychologists have
identified two primary reasons for conformity. The first of these is normative
influence. When normative influence is operating, people go along with the
crowd because they are concerned about what others think of them. We dont
want to look out of step or become the target of criticism just because we like
different kinds of music or dress differently than everyone else. Fitting in also
brings rewards such as camaraderie and compliments.
nobaproject.com - Conformity and Obedience
1131
How powerful is normative influence? Consider a classic study conducted

many years ago by Solomon Asch (1956). The participants were male college
students who were asked to engage in a seemingly simple task. An experimenter
standing several feet away held up a card that depicted one line on the left side
and three lines on the right side. The participants job was to say aloud which
of the three lines on the right was the same length as the line on the left. Sixteen
cards were presented one at a time, and the correct answer on each was so
obvious as to make the task a little boring. Except for one thing. The participant
was not alone. In fact, there were six other people in the room who also gave
their answers to the line-judgment task aloud. Moreover, although they
pretended to be fellow participants, these other individuals were, in fact,
confederates working with the experimenter. The real participant was seated
so that he always gave his answer after hearing what five other participants
said. Everything went smoothly until the third trial, when inexplicably the first
participant gave an obviously incorrect answer. The mistake might have been
amusing, except the second participant gave the same answer. As did the third,
the fourth, and the fifth participant. Suddenly the real participant was in a
difficult situation. His eyes told him one thing, but five out of five people
apparently saw something else.
Its one thing to wear your hair a certain way or like certain foods because
everyone around you does. But, would participants intentionally give a wrong
answer just to conform with the other participants? The confederates uniformly
gave incorrect answers on 12 of the 16 trials, and 76 percent of the participants
went along with the norm at least once and also gave the wrong answer. In
total, they conformed with the group on one-third of the 12 test trials. Although
we might be impressed that the majority of the time participants answered
honestly, most psychologists find it remarkable that so many college students
caved in to the pressure of the group rather than do the job they had volunteered
to do. In almost all cases, the participants knew they were giving an incorrect
answer, but their concern for what these other people might be thinking about
1132
them overpowered their desire to do the right thing.

Variations of Aschs procedures have been conducted numerous times
(Bond, 2005; Bond & Smith, 1996). We now know that the findings are easily
replicated, that there is an increase in conformity with more confederates (up
to about five), that teenagers are more prone to conforming than are adults,
and that people conform significantly less often when they believe the
confederates will not hear their responses (Berndt, 1979; Bond, 2005;
Crutchfield, 1955; Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). This last finding is consistent with
the notion that participants change their answers because they are concerned
about what others think of them. Finally, although we see the effect in virtually
every culture that has been studied, more conformity is found in collectivist
countries such as Japan and China than in individualistic countries such as the
United States (Bond & Smith, 1996). Compared with individualistic cultures,
people who live in collectivist cultures place a higher value on the goals of the
group than on individual preferences. They also are more motivated to maintain
harmony in their interpersonal relations.
The other reason we sometimes go along with the crowd is that people are
often a source of information. Psychologists refer to this process as
informational influence. Most of us, most of the time, are motivated to do the
right thing. If society deems that we put litter in a proper container, speak softly
in libraries, and tip our waiter, then thats what most of us will do. But sometimes
its not clear what society expects of us. In these situations, we often rely on
descriptive norms (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990). That is, we act the way
most peopleor most people like usact. This is not an unreasonable strategy.
Other people often have information that we do not, especially when we find
ourselves in new situations. If you have ever been part of a conversation that
went something like this,
1133
you have experienced the power of informational influence.

However, its not always easy to obtain good descriptive norm information,
which means we sometimes rely on a flawed notion of the norm when deciding
how we should behave. A good example of how misperceived norms can lead
to problems is found in research on binge drinking among college students.
Excessive drinking is a serious problem on many campuses (Mita, 2009). There
are many reasons why students binge drink, but one of the most important is
their perception of the descriptive norm. How much students drink is highly
correlated with how much they believe the average student drinks (Neighbors,
Lee, Lewis, Fossos, & Larimer, 2007). Unfortunately, students arent very good
at making this assessment. They notice the boisterous heavy drinker at the
party but fail to consider all the students not attending the party. As a result,
students typically overestimate the descriptive norm for college student
drinking (Borsari & Carey, 2003; Perkins, Haines, & Rice, 2005). Most students
believe they consume significantly less alcohol than the norm, a miscalculation
that creates a dangerous push toward more and more excessive alcohol
consumption. On the positive side, providing students with accurate
information about drinking norms has been found to reduce overindulgent
drinking (Burger, LaSalvia, Hendricks, Mehdipour, & Neudeck, 2011; Neighbors,
Lee, Lewis, Fossos, & Walter, 2009).
Researchers have demonstrated the power of descriptive norms in a
number of areas. Homeowners reduced the amount of energy they used when
they learned that they were consuming more energy than their neighbors
(Schultz, Nolan, Cialdini, Goldstein, & Griskevicius, 2007). Undergraduates
selected the healthy food option when led to believe that other students had
made this choice (Burger et al., 2010). Hotel guests were more likely to reuse
their towels when a hanger in the bathroom told them that this is what most
guests did (Goldstein, Cialdini, & Griskevicius, 2008). And more people began
using the stairs instead of the elevator when informed that the vast majority of
people took the stairs to go up one or two floors (Burger & Shelton, 2011).
1134
Obedience
Although we may be influenced by the people around us more than we
recognize, whether we conform to the norm is up to us. But sometimes
decisions about how to act are not so easy. Sometimes we are directed by a
more powerful person to do things we may not want to do. Researchers who
study obedience are interested in how people react when given an order or
command from someone in a position of authority. In many situations,
obedience is a good thing. We are taught at an early age to obey parents,
teachers, and police officers. Its also important to follow instructions from
judges, firefighters, and lifeguards. And a military would fail to function if
soldiers stopped obeying orders from superiors. But, there is also a dark side
to obedience. In the name of following orders or just doing my job, people
can violate ethical principles and break laws. More disturbingly, obedience often
is at the heart of some of the worst of human behaviormassacres, atrocities,
and even genocide.
It was this unsettling side of obedience that led to some of the most famous
and most controversial research in the history of psychology. Milgram (1963,
1965, 1974) wanted to know why so many otherwise decent German citizens
went along with the brutality of the Nazi leaders during the Holocaust. These
inhumane policies may have originated in the mind of a single person, Milgram
(1963, p. 371) wrote, but they could only be carried out on a massive scale if a
very large number of persons obeyed orders.
To understand this obedience, Milgram conducted a series of laboratory
investigations. In all but one variation of the basic procedure, participants were
men recruited from the community surrounding Yale University, where the
research was carried out. These citizens signed up for what they believed to be
an experiment on learning and memory. In particular, they were told the
research concerned the effects of punishment on learning. Three people were
involved in each session. One was the participant.
Another was the

1135
experimenter. The third was a confederate who pretended to be another

participant.
The experimenter explained that the study consisted of a memory test and
that one of the men would be the teacher and the other the learner. Through
a rigged drawing, the real participant was always assigned the teachers role
and the confederate was always the learner. The teacher watched as the learner
was strapped into a chair and had electrodes attached to his wrist. The teacher
then moved to the room next door where he was seated in front of a large metal
box the experimenter identified as a shock generator. The front of the box
displayed gauges and lights and, most noteworthy, a series of 30 levers across
the bottom. Each lever was labeled with a voltage figure, starting with 15 volts
and moving up in 15-volt increments to 450 volts. Labels also indicated the
strength of the shocks, starting with Slight Shock and moving up to Danger:
Severe Shock toward the end. The last two levers were simply labeled XXX in
red.
Through a microphone, the teacher administered a memory test to the
learner in the next room. The learner responded to the multiple-choice items
by pressing one of four buttons that were barely within reach of his strappeddown hand. If the teacher saw the correct answer light up on his side of the
wall, he simply moved on to the next item. But if the learner got the item wrong,
the teacher pressed one of the shock levers and, thereby, delivered the learners
punishment. The teacher was instructed to start with the 15-volt lever and move
up to the next highest shock for each successive wrong answer.
In reality, the learner received no shocks. But he did make a lot of mistakes
on the test, which forced the teacher to administer what he believed to be
increasingly strong shocks. The purpose of the study was to see how far the
teacher would go before refusing to continue. The teachers first hint that
something was amiss came after pressing the 75-volt lever and hearing through
the wall the learner say Ugh! The learners reactions became stronger and
louder with each lever press. At 150 volts, the learner yelled out, Experimenter!
1136
Thats all. Get me out of here. I told you I had heart trouble. My hearts starting
to bother me now. Get me out of here, please. My hearts starting to bother me.
I refuse to go on. Let me out.
The experimenters role was to encourage the participant to continue. If at
any time the teacher asked to end the session, the experimenter responded
with phrases such as, The experiment requires that you continue, and You
have no other choice, you must go on. The experimenter ended the session
only after the teacher stated four successive times that he did not want to
continue. All the while, the learners protests became more intense with each
shock. After 300 volts, the learner refused to answer any more questions, which
led the experimenter to say that no answer should be considered a wrong
answer. After 330 volts, despite vehement protests from the learner following
previous shocks, the teacher heard only silence, suggesting that the learner
was now physically unable to respond. If the teacher reached 450 voltsthe
end of the generatorthe experimenter told him to continue pressing the 450
volt lever for each wrong answer. It was only after the teacher pressed the 450volt lever three times that the experimenter announced that the study was over.
If you had been a participant in this research, what would you have done?
Virtually everyone says he or she would have stopped early in the process. And
most people predict that very few if any participants would keep pressing all
the way to 450 volts. Yet in the basic procedure described here, 65 percent of
the participants continued to administer shocks to the very end of the session.
These were not brutal, sadistic men. They were ordinary citizens who
nonetheless followed the experimenters instructions to administer what they
believed to be excruciating if not dangerous electric shocks to an innocent
person. The disturbing implication from the findings is that, under the right
circumstances, each of us may be capable of acting in some very
uncharacteristic and perhaps some very unsettling ways.
1137
Milgram conducted many variations of this basic procedure to explore some

of the factors that affect obedience. He found that obedience rates decreased
when the learner was in the same room as the experimenter and declined even
further when the teacher had to physically touch the learner to administer the
punishment. Participants also were less willing to continue the procedure after
seeing other teachers refuse to press the shock levers, and they were
significantly less obedient when the instructions to continue came from a
person they believed to be another participant rather than from the
experimenter. Finally, Milgram found that women participants followed the
experimenters instructions at exactly the same rate the men had.
Milgrams obedience research has been the subject of much controversy
and discussion. Psychologists continue to debate the extent to which Milgrams
studies tell us something about atrocities in general and about the behavior of
German citizens during the Holocaust in particular (Miller, 2004). Certainly, there
are important features of that time and place that cannot be recreated in a
laboratory, such as a pervasive climate of prejudice and dehumanization.
Another issue concerns the relevance of the findings. Some people have argued
that today we are more aware of the dangers of blind obedience than we were
when the research was conducted back in the 1960s. However, findings from
partial and modified replications of Milgrams procedures conducted in recent
years suggest that people respond to the situation today much like they did a
half a century ago (Burger, 2009).
Another point of controversy concerns the ethical treatment of research
participants. Researchers have an obligation to look out for the welfare of their
participants. Yet, there is little doubt that many of Milgrams participants
experienced intense levels of stress as they went through the procedure. In his
defense, Milgram was not unconcerned about the effects of the experience on
his participants. And in follow-up questionnaires, the vast majority of his
participants said they were pleased they had been part of the research and
thought similar experiments should be conducted in the future. Nonetheless,
1138
in part because of Milgrams studies, guidelines and procedures were developed

to protect research participants from these kinds of experiences. Although
Milgrams intriguing findings left us with many unanswered questions,
conducting a full replication of his experiment remains out of bounds by todays
standards.
Social psychologists are fond of saying that we are all influenced by the
people around us more than we recognize. Of course, each person is unique,
and ultimately each of us makes choices about how we will and will not act. But
decades of research on conformity and obedience make it clear that we live in
a social world and thatfor better or worsemuch of what we do is a reflection
of the people we encounter.
1139
Outside Resources
Video: An example of information influence in a field setting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yFeaS60nWk
Video: Scenes from a recent partial replication of Milgrams obedience
studies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwqNP9HRy7Y
Video: Scenes from a recent replication of Aschs conformity experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgDx5g9ql1g
Web: Website devoted to scholarship and research related to Milgrams
obedience studies
http://www.stanleymilgram.com
1. In what ways do you see normative influence operating among you and
your peers? How difficult would it be to go against the norm? What would
it take for you to not do something just because all your friends were doing
it?
2. What are some examples of how informational influence helps us do the
right thing? How can we use descriptive norm information to change
problem behaviors?
3. Is conformity more likely or less likely to occur when interacting with other
people through social media as compared to face-to-face encounters?
4. When is obedience to authority a good thing and when is it bad? What can
be done to prevent people from obeying commands to engage in truly
deplorable behavior such as atrocities and massacres?
5. In what ways do Milgrams experimental procedures fall outside the
guidelines for research with human participants? Are there ways to conduct
relevant research on obedience to authority without violating these
guidelines?
Vocabulary
Conformity
Changing ones attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm.
Descriptive norm
The perception of what most people do in a given situation.
Informational influence
Conformity that results from a concern to act in a socially approved manner as
determined by how others act.
Normative influence
Conformity that results from a concern for what other people think of us.
Obedience
Responding to an order or command from a person in a position of authority.
Reference List
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one
against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs, 70 (9, Whole No.
416).
Berndt, T. J. (1979). Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents.
Bond, R. (2005). Group size and conformity. Group Processes & Intergroup
Relations, 8, 331354.
Bond, R., & Smith, P. B. (1996). Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies
using Aschs (1952b, 1956) line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin, 119,
111137.
Borsari, B., & Carey, K. B. (2003). Descriptive and injunctive norms in college
drinking: A meta-analytic integration. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 331
341.
Burger, J. M. (2009). Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?
Burger, J. M., Bell, H., Harvey, K., Johnson, J., Stewart, C., Dorian, K., & Swedroe,
M. (2010). Nutritious or delicious? The effect of descriptive norm information
on food choice. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 228242.
Burger, J. M., LaSalvia, C. T., Hendricks, L. A., Mehdipour, T., & Neudeck, E. M.
(2011). Partying before the party gets started: The effects of descriptive
norms on pre-gaming behavior. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 33,
220227.
Burger, J. M., & Shelton, M. (2011). Changing everyday health behaviors through
descriptive norm manipulations. Social Influence, 6, 6977.
Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perceptionbehavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social
Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990). A focus theory of normative
conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places.
Crutchfield, R. S. (1955). Conformity and character. American Psychologist, 10,
191198.
Deutsch, M., & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational
social influences upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint:
Using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels.
Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 472482.
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York,
NY: Harper & Row.
Milgram, S. (1965). Some conditions of obedience and disobedience to
authority. Human Relations, 18, 5776.
Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and

Miller, A. G. (2004). What can the Milgram obedience experiments tell us about
the Holocaust? Generalizing from the social psychology laboratory. In A. G.
Miller (Ed.), The social psychology of good and evil (pp. 193239). New York,
NY: Guilford Press.
Mita, M. (2009). College binge drinking still on the rise. JAMA: Journal of the
American Medical Association, 302, 836837.
Neighbors, C., Lee, C. M., Lewis, M. A., Fossos, N., & Larimer, M. E. (2007). Are
social norms the best predictor of outcomes among heavy-drinking college
students? Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68, 556565.
Neighbors, C., Lee, C. M., Lewis, M. A., Fossos, N., & Walter, T. (2009). Internetbased personalized feedback to reduce 21st-birthday drinking: A
randomized controlled trial of an even-specific prevention intervention.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 5163.
Perkins, H. W., Haines, M. P., & Rice, R. (2005). Misperceiving the college drinking
norm and related problems: A nationwide study of exposure to prevention
information, perceived norms, and student alcohol misuse. Journal of
Studies on Alcohol, 66, 470478.
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V. (2007).
The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Conformity and Obedience by Jerry M. Burger
Love, Friendship, and Social

Support
Debi Brannan & Cynthia D. Mohr
Western Oregon University, Portland State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Friendship and love, and more broadly, the relationships that people cultivate
in their lives, are some of the most valuable treasures a person can own. This
chapter explores ways in which we try to understand how friendships form,
what attracts one person to another, and how love develops. It also explores
how the Internet influences how we meet people and develop deep
relationships. Finally, this chapter will examine social support and how this can
help many through the hardest times and help make the best times even better.
Learning Objectives
Understand what attracts us to others.
Review research that suggests that friendships are important for our health
and well-being.
Examine the influence of the Internet on friendship and developing

relationships.
Understand what happens to our brains when we are in love.
Consider the complexity of love.
Examine the construct and components of social support.
Introduction
The importance of relationships has been examined by researchers for decades.
Many researchers point to sociologist mile Durkheims classic study of suicide
and social ties (1951) as a starting point for this work. Durkheim argued that
being socially connected is imperative to achieving personal well-being. In fact,
he argued that a person who has no close relationships is likely a person who
is at risk for suicide. It is those relationships that give a person meaning in their
life. In other words, suicide tends to be higher among those who become
disconnected from society. What is interesting about that notion is when people
are asked to describe the basic necessities for lifepeople will most often say
food, water, and shelter, but seldom do people list close relationships in the
top three. Yet time and time again, research has demonstrated that we are
social creatures and we need others to survive and thrive. Another way of
thinking about it is that close relationships are the psychological equivalent of
food and water; in other words, these relationships are necessary for survival.
Baumeister and Leary (1995) maintain that humans have basic needs and one
of them is the need to belong; these needs are what makes us human and give
a sense of purpose and identity to our lives (Brissette, Cohen, & Seeman, 2000;
Ryff, 1989).
Given that close relationships are so vital to well-being, it is important to ask
how interpersonal relationships begin. What makes us like or love one person
but not another? Why is it that when bad things happen, we frequently want to
talk to our friends or family about the situation? Though these are difficult
questions to answer because relationships are complicated and unique, this
chapter will examine how relationships begin; the impact of technology on
relationships; and why coworkers, acquaintances, friends, family, and intimate
partners are so important in our lives.
nobaproject.com - Love, Friendship, and Social Support
1151
Attraction:The Start of Friendship and Love

Why do some people hit it off immediately? Or decide that the friend of a friend
was not likable? Using scientific methods, psychologists have investigated
factors influencing attraction and have identified a number of variables, such
as similarity, proximity (physical or functional), familiarity, and reciprocity, that
influence with whom we develop relationships.
Proximity
Often we stumble upon friends or romantic partners; this happens partly due
to how close in proximity we are to those people. Specifically, proximity or
physical nearness has been found to be a significant factor in the development
of relationships. For example, when college students go away to a new school,
they will make friends consisting of classmates, roommates, and teammates (i.
e., people close in proximity). Proximity allows people the opportunity to get to
know one other and discover their similaritiesall of which can result in a
friendship or intimate relationship. Proximity is not just about geographic
distance, but rather functional distance, or the frequency with which we cross
paths with others. For example, college students are more likely to become
closer and develop relationships with people on their dorm-room floors
because they see them (i.e., cross paths) more often than they see people on
a different floor. How does the notion of proximity apply in terms of online
relationships? Deb Levine (2000) argues that in terms of developing online
relationships and attraction, functional distance refers to being at the same
place at the same time in a virtual world (i.e., a chat room or Internet forum)
crossing virtual paths.
1152
Familiarity
One of the reasons why proximity matters to attraction is that it breeds
familiarity; people are more attracted to that which is familiar. Just being around
someone or being repeatedly exposed to them increases the likelihood that we
will be attracted to them. We also tend to feel safe with familiar people, as it is
likely we know what to expect from them. Dr. Robert Zajonc (1968) labeled this
phenomenon the mere-exposure effect. More specifically, he argued that the
more often we are exposed to a stimulus (e.g., sound, person) the more likely
we are to view that stimulus positively. Moreland and Beach (1992)
demonstrated this by exposing a college class to four women (similar in
appearance and age) who attended different numbers of classes, revealing that
the more classes a woman attended, the more familiar, similar, and attractive
she was considered by the other students.
There is a certain comfort in knowing what to expect from others;
consequently research suggests that we like what is familiar. While this is often
on a subconscious level, research has found this to be one of the most basic
principles of attraction (Zajonc, 1980). For example, a young man growing up
with an overbearing mother may be attracted to other overbearing women not
because he likes being dominated but rather because it is what he considers
normal (i.e., familiar).
Similarity
When you hear about couples such as Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, or Kim
Kardashian and Kanye West, do you shake your head thinking this wont last?
It is probably because they seem so different. While many make the argument
that opposites attract, research has found that is generally not true; similarity
is key. Sure, there are times when couples can appear fairly different, but overall
we like others who are like us. Ingram and Morris (2007) examined this
1153
phenomenon by inviting business executives to a cocktail mixer, 95% of whom

reported that they wanted to meet new people. Using electronic name tag
tracking, researchers revealed that the executives did not mingle or meet new
people; instead, they only spoke with those they already knew well (i.e., people
who were similar).
When it comes to marriage, research has found that couples tend to be very
similar, particularly when it comes to age, social class, race, education, physical
attractiveness, values, and attitudes (McCann Hamilton, 2007; Taylor, Fiore,
Mendelsohn, & Cheshire, 2011). This phenomenon is known as the matching
hypothesis (Feingold, 1988; Mckillip & Redel, 1983). We like others who validate
our points of view and who are similar in thoughts, desires, and attitudes.
Reciprocity
Another key component in attraction is reciprocity; this principle is based on
the notion that we are more likely to like someone if they feel the same way
toward us. In other words, it is hard to be friends with someone who is not
friendly in return. Another way to think of it is that relationships are built on
give and take; if one side is not reciprocating, then the relationship is doomed.
Basically, we feel obliged to give what we get and to maintain equity in
relationships. Researchers have found that this is true across cultures
(Gouldner, 1960).
Friendship
Research has found that close friendships can protect our mental and physical
health when times get tough. For example, Adams, Santo, and Bukowski (2011)
asked fifth- and sixth-graders to record their experiences and self-worth, and
to provide saliva samples for 4 days. Children whose best friend was present
during or shortly after a negative experience had significantly lower levels of
1154
the stress hormone cortisol in their saliva compared to those who did not have
a best friend present. Having a best friend also seemed to protect their feelings
of self-worth. Children who did not identify a best friend or did not have an
available best friend during distress experienced a drop in self-esteem over the
course of the study.
Workplace friendships
Friendships often take root in the workplace, due to the fact that people are
spending as much, or more, time at work than they are with their family and
friends (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003). Often, it is through these relationships
that people receive mentoring and obtain social support and resources, but
they can also experience conflicts and the potential for misinterpretation when
sexual attraction is an issue. Indeed, Elsesser and Peplau (2006) found that
many workers reported that friendships grew out of collaborative work projects,
and these friendships made their days more pleasant.
In addition to those benefits, Riordan and Griffeth (1995) found that people
who worked in an environment where friendships could develop and be
maintained were more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction, job
involvement, and organizational commitment, and they were less like to leave
that job. Similarly, a Gallup poll revealed that employees who had close friends
at work were almost 50% more satisfied with their jobs than those who did not
(Armour, 2007).
Internet friendships
What influence does the Internet have on friendships? It is not surprising that
people use the Internet with the goal of meeting and making new friends (Fehr,
2008; McKenna, 2008). Researchers have wondered if the issue of not being
face-to-face reduces the authenticity of relationships, or if the Internet really
1155
allows people to develop deep, meaningful connections. Interestingly, research

has demonstrated that virtual relationships are often as intimate as in-person
relationships; in fact, Bargh and colleagues found that online relationships are
sometimes more intimate (Bargh et al., 2002). This can be especially true for
those individuals who are more socially anxious and lonelysuch individuals
who are more likely to turn to the Internet to find new and meaningful
relationships (McKenna, Green, & Gleason, 2002). McKenna et al. (2002) suggest
that for people who have a hard time meeting and maintaining relationships,
due to shyness, anxiety, or lack of face-to-face social skills, the Internet provides
a safe, nonthreatening place to develop and maintain relationships. Similarly,
Penny Benford (2008) found that for high-functioning autistic individuals, the
Internet facilitated communication and relationship development with others,
which would have been more difficult in face-to-face contexts, leading to the
conclusion that Internet communication could be empowering for those who
feel frustrated when communicating face to face.
Love
Is all love the same? Are there different types of love? Examining these questions
more closely, Robert Sternbergs (2004; 2007) work has focused on the notion
that all types of love are comprised of three distinct areas: intimacy, passion,
and commitment. Intimacy includes caring, closeness, and emotional support.
The passion component of love is comprised of physiological and emotional
arousal; these can include physical attraction, emotional responses that
promote physiological changes, and sexual arousal. Lastly, commitment refers
to the cognitive process and decision to commit to love another person and
the willingness to work to keep that love over the course of your life. The
elements involved in intimacy (caring, closeness, and emotional support) are
generally found in all types of close relationshipsfor example, a mothers love
for a child or the love that friends share. Interestingly, this is not true for passion.
1156
Passion is unique to romantic love, differentiating friends from lovers. In sum,

depending on the type of love and the stage of the relationship (i.e., newly in
love), different combinations of these elements are present.
Figure 1: Triangular Theory of Love. Adapted from Wikipedia Creative Commons, 2013
Taking this theory a step further, anthropologist Helen Fisher explained that
she scanned the brains (using fMRI) of people who had just fallen in love and
observed that their brain chemistry was going crazy, similar to the brain of an
addict on a drug high (Cohen, 2007). Specifically, serotonin production increased
by as much as 40% in newly in-love individuals. Further, those newly in love
tended to show obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Conversely, when a person
experiences a breakup, the brain processes it in a similar way to quitting a heroin
habit (Fisher, Brown, Aron, Strong, & Mashek, 2009). Thus, those who believe
that breakups are physically painful are correct! Another interesting point is
that long-term love and sexual desire activate different areas of the brain. More
specifically, sexual needs activate the part of the brain that is particularly
sensitive to innately pleasurable things such as food, sex, and drugs (i.e., the
striatuma rather simplistic reward system), whereas love requires
conditioningit is more like a habit. When sexual needs are rewarded
consistently, then love can develop. In other words, love grows out of positive
rewards, expectancies, and habit (Cacioppo, Bianchi-Demicheli, Hatfield &
1157
Rapson, 2012).
Love and the Internet

The ways people are finding love has changed with the advent of the Internet.
In a poll, 49% of all American adults reported that either themselves or someone
they knew had dated a person they met online (Madden & Lenhart, 2006). As
Finkel and colleagues (2007) found, social networking sites, and the Internet
generally, perform three important tasks. Specifically, sites provide individuals
with access to a database of other individuals who are interested in meeting
someone. Dating sites generally reduce issues of proximity, as individuals do
not have to be close in proximity to meet. Also, they provide a medium in which
individuals can communicate with others. Finally, some Internet dating websites
advertise special matching strategies, based on factors such as personality,
hobbies, and interests, to identify the perfect match for people looking for
love online. In general, scientific questions about the effectiveness of Internet
matching or online dating compared to face-to-face dating remain to be
answered.
It is important to note that social networking sites have opened the doors
for many to meet people that they might not have ever had the opportunity to
meet; unfortunately, it now appears that the social networking sites can be
forums for unsuspecting people to be duped. In 2010 a documentary, Catfish,
focused on the personal experience of a man who met a woman online and
carried on an emotional relationship with this person for months. As he later
came to discover, though, the person he thought he was talking and writing
with did not exist. As Dr. Aaron Ben-Zev stated, online relationships leave room
for deception; thus, people have to be cautious.
1158
Social Support
When bad things happen, it is important for people to know that others care
about them and can help them out. Unsurprisingly, research has found that
this is a common thread across cultures (Markus & Kitayma, 1991; Triandis,
1995) and over time (Reis, Sheldon, Gable, Roscoe, & Ryan, 2000); in other words,
social support is the active ingredient that makes our relationships particularly
beneficial. But what is social support? One way of thinking about social support
is that it consists of three discrete conceptual components.
Perceived Social Support

Have you ever thought that when things go wrong, you know you have friends/
family members that are there to help you? This is what psychologists call
perceived social support or a psychological sense of support (Gottlieb, 1985).
How powerful is this belief that others will be available in times of need? To
examine this question, Dr. Arnberg and colleagues asked 4,600 survivors of the
tragic 2004 Indian Ocean (or Boxing Day) Tsunami about their perception of
social support provided by friends and family after the event. Those who
experienced the most amount of stress found the most benefit from just
knowing others were available if they needed anything (i.e., perceived support).
In other words, the magnitude of the benefits depended on the extent of the
stress, but the bottom line was that for these survivors, knowing that they had
1159
people around to support them if they needed it helped them all to some
degree.
Perceived support has also been linked to well-being. Brannan and
colleagues (2012) found that perceived support predicted each component of
well-being (high positive affect, low negative affect, high satisfaction with life)
among college students in Iran, Jordan, and the United States. Similarly, Cohen
and McKay (1984) found that a high level of perceived support can serve as a
buffer against stress. Interestingly enough, Dr. Cohen found that those with
higher levels of social support were less likely to catch the common cold. The
research is clearperceived social support increases happiness and well-being
and makes our live better in general (Diener & Seligman, 2002; Emmons & Colby,
1995).
Received Social Support

Received support is the actual receipt of support or helping behaviors from
others (Cohen & Wills, 1985). Interestingly, unlike perceived support, the
benefits of received support have been beset with mixed findings (Stroebe &
Stroebe, 1996). Similar to perceived support, receiving support can buffer
people from stress and positively influence some individualshowever, others
might not want support or think they need it. For example, dating advice from
a friend may be considered more helpful than such advice from your mom!
Interestingly, research has indicated that regardless of the support-providers
intentions, the support may not be considered as helpful to the person receiving
the support if it is unwanted (Dunkel-Schetter, Blasband, Feinstein, & Herbert,
1992; Cutrona, 1986). Indeed, mentor support was viewed negatively by novice
ESOL teachers (those teaching English as a second language in other countries;
Brannan & Bleistein, 2012). Yet received support from family was perceived as
very positivethe teachers said that their family members cared enough to
ask about their jobs and told them how proud they were. Conversely, received
1160
mentor support did not meet teachers needs, instead making them feel afraid
and embarrassed to receive mentor support.
Quality or Quantity?
With so many mixed findings, psychologists have asked whether it is the quality
of social support that matters or the quantity (e.g., more people in my support
network). Interestingly, research by Friedman and Martin (2011) examining
1,500 Californians over 8 decades found that while quality does matter,
individuals with larger social networks lived significantly longer than those with
smaller networks. This research suggests we should count the number of our
friends / family membersthe more, the better, right? Not necessarily: Dunbar
(1992; 1993) argued that we have a cognitive limit with regard to how many
people with whom we can maintain social relationships. The general consensus
is about 150we can only really know (maintain contact and relate to) about
150 people. Finally, research shows that diversity also matters in terms of ones
network, such that individuals with more diverse social networks (i.e., different
types of relationships including friends, parents, neighbors, and classmates)
were less likely to get the common cold compared to those with fewer and less
diverse networks (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper, & Skoner, 2003). In sum, it is
important to have quality relationships as well as quantityand as the Beatles
said, all you need is lovelove is all you need.
1161
Outside Resources
Movie: Official Website of Catfish the Movie
http://www.iamrogue.com/catfish
Video: Ted Talk from Helen Fisher on the brain in love
http://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fisher_studies_the_brain_in_love.html
Web: Groundbreaking longitudinal study on longevity from Howard S.
Friedman and Leslie R. Martin
http://www.howardsfriedman.com/longevityproject/
1. What is more importantperceived social support or received social
support? Why?
2. We understand how the Internet has changed the dating scenehow might
it further change how we become romantically involved?
3. Can you love someone whom you have never met?
4. Do you think it is the quality or quantity of your relationships that really
matters most?
Vocabulary
Functional distance
The frequency with which we cross paths with others.
Mere-exposure effect
The notion that people like people/places/things merely because they are
familiar with them.
Perceived social support
A persons perception that others are there to help them in times of need.
Proximity
Physical nearness.
Received social support
The actual act of receiving support (e.g., informational, functional).
Support support network
The people who care about and support a person.
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Donelson R. Forsyth
University of Richmond
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter assumes that a thorough understanding of people requires a
thorough understanding of groups. Each of us is an autonomous individual
seeking our own objectives, yet we are also members of groupsgroups that
constrain us, guide us, and sustain us. Just as each of us influences the group
and the people in the group, so, too, do groups change each one of us. Joining
groups satisfies our need to belong, gain information and understanding
through social comparison, define our sense of self and social identity, and
achieve goals that might elude us if we worked alone. Groups are also practically
significant, for much of the worlds work is done by groups rather than by
individuals. Success sometimes eludes our groups, but when group members
learn to work together as a cohesive team their success becomes more certain.
People also turn to groups when important decisions must be made, and this
choice is justified as long as groups avoid such problems as group polarization
and groupthink.
Learning Objectives
Review the evidence that suggests humans have a fundamental need to

belong to groups.
Compare the sociometer model of self-esteem to a more traditional view

of self-esteem.
Use theories of social facilitation to predict when a group will perform tasks
slowly or quickly (e.g., students eating a meal as a group, workers on an
assembly line, or a study group).
Summarize the methods used by Latan, Williams, and Harkins to identify

the relative impact of social loafing and coordination problems on group
performance.
Describe how groups change over time.
Apply the theory of groupthink to a well-known decision-making group, such

as the group of advisors responsible for planning the Bay of Pigs operation.
List and discuss the factors that facilitate and impede group performance
and decision making.
Develop a list of recommendations that, if followed, would minimize the

possibility of groupthink developing in a group.

Psychologists study groups because nearly all human activitiesworking,
learning, worshiping, relaxing, playing, and even sleepingoccur in groups.
The lone individual who is cut off from all groups is a rarity. Most of us live out
our lives in groups, and these groups have a profound impact on our thoughts,
feelings, and actions.
Many psychologists focus their attention on single
individuals, but social psychologists expand their analysis to include groups,

organizations, communities, and even cultures.
This chapter examines the psychology of groups and group membership.
It begins with a basic question: What is the psychological significance of groups?
People are, undeniably, more often in groups rather than alone. What accounts
for this marked gregariousness and what does it say about our psychological
makeup? The chapter then reviews some of the key findings from studies of
groups. Researchers have asked many questions about people and groups:
Do people work as hard as they can when they are in groups? Are groups more
cautious than individuals?
Do groups make wiser decisions than single
individuals? In many cases the answers are not what common sense and folk
wisdom might suggest.
The Psychological Significance of Groups

Many people loudly proclaim their autonomy and independence. Like Ralph
Waldo Emerson, they avow, I must be myself. I will not hide my tastes or
aversions . . . . I will seek my own (1903/2004, p. 127). Even though people are
capable of living separate and apart from others, they join with others because
groups meet their psychological and social needs.
nobaproject.com - The Psychology of Groups
1176
The Need to Belong

Across individuals, societies, and even eras, humans consistently seek inclusion
over exclusion, membership over isolation, and acceptance over rejection. As
Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary conclude, humans have a need to belong: a
pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting,
positive, and impactful interpersonal relationships (1995, p. 497). And most
of us satisfy this need by joining groups. When surveyed, 87.3% of Americans
reported that they lived with other people, including family members, partners,
and roommates (Davis & Smith, 2007). The majority, ranging from 50% to 80%,
reported regularly doing things in groups, such as attending a sports event
together, visiting one another for the evening, sharing a meal together, or going
out as a group to see a movie (Putnam, 2000).
People respond negatively when their need to belong is unfulfilled. For
example, college students often feel homesick and lonely when they first start
college, but not if they belong to a cohesive, socially satisfying group (Buote et
al., 2007). People who are accepted members of a group tend to feel happier
and more satisfied. But should they be rejected by a group, they feel unhappy,
helpless, and depressed. Studies of ostracismthe deliberate exclusion from
groupsindicate this experience is highly stressful and can lead to depression,
confused thinking, and even aggression (Williams, 2007). When researchers
used a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner to track neural
responses to exclusion, they found that people who were left out of a group
activity displayed heightened cortical activity in two specific areas of the brain
the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula. These areas of
the brain are associated with the experience of physical pain sensations
(Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003). It hurts, quite literally, to be left
out of a group.
1177
Affiliation in Groups
Groups not only satisfy the need to belong, they also provide members with
information, assistance, and social support. Leon Festingers theory of social
comparison (1950, 1954) suggested that in many cases people join with others
to evaluate the accuracy of their personal beliefs and attitudes.
Stanley
Schachter (1959) explored this process by putting individuals in ambiguous,

stressful situations and asking them if they wished to wait alone or with others.
He found that people affiliate in such situationsthey seek the company of
others.
Although any kind of companionship is appreciated, we prefer those who
provide us with reassurance and support as well as accurate information. In
some cases, we also prefer to join with others who are even worse off than we
are. Imagine, for example, how you would respond when the teacher hands
back the test and yours is marked 85%. Do you want to affiliate with a friend
who got a 95% or a friend who got a 78%? To maintain a sense of self-worth,
people seek out and compare themselves to the less fortunate. This process
is known as downward social comparison.
Identity and Membership

Groups are not only founts of information during times of ambiguity, they also
help us answer the existentially significant question, Who am I? Common
sense tells us that our sense of self is our private definition of who we are, a
kind of archival record of our experiences, qualities, and capabilities. Yet, the
self also includes all those qualities that spring from memberships in groups.
People are defined not only by their traits, preferences, interests, likes, and
dislikes, but also by their friendships, social roles, family connections, and group
memberships. The self is not just a me, but also a we.
1178
Even demographic qualities such as sex or age can influence us if we

categorize ourselves based these qualities. Social identity theory, for example,
assumes that we dont just classify other people into such social categories as
man, woman, Anglo, elderly, or college student, but we also categorize
ourselves. Moreover, if we strongly identify with these categories, then we will
ascribe the characteristics of the typical member of these groups to ourselves,
and so stereotype ourselves. If, for example, we believe that college students
are intellectual, then we will assume we, too, are intellectual if we identify with
that group (Hogg, 2001).
Groups also provide a variety of means for maintaining and enhancing a
sense of self-worth, as our assessment of the quality of groups we belong to
influences our collective self-esteem (Crocker & Luhtanen, 1990). If our selfesteem is shaken by a personal setback, we can focus on our groups success
and prestige.
In addition, by comparing our group to other groups, we
frequently discover that we are members of the better group, and so can take
pride in our superiority. By denigrating other groups, we elevate both our
personal and our collective self-esteem (Crocker & Major, 1989).
Mark Learys sociometer model goes so far as to suggest that self-esteem
is part of a sociometer that monitors peoples relational value in other peoples
eyes (2007, p. 328). He maintains self-esteem is not just an index of ones sense
of personal value, but also an indicator of acceptance into groups. Like a gauge
that indicates how much fuel is left in the tank, a dip in self-esteem indicates
exclusion from our group is likely. Disquieting feelings of self-worth, then,
prompt us to search for and correct characteristics and qualities that put us at
risk of social exclusion. Self-esteem is not just high self-regard, but the selfapprobation that we feel when included in groups (Leary & Baumeister, 2000).
1179
Evolutionary Advantages of Group Living

Groups may be humans most useful invention, for they provide us with the
means to reach goals that would elude us if we remained alone. Individuals in
groups can secure advantages and avoid disadvantages that would plague the
lone individuals. In his theory of social integration, Moreland concludes that
groups tend to form whenever people become dependent on one another for
the satisfaction of their needs (1987, p. 104). The advantages of group life may
be so great that humans are biologically prepared to seek membership and
avoid isolation. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, because groups
have increased humans overall fitness for countless generations, individuals
who carried genes that promoted solitude-seeking were less likely to survive
and procreate compared to those with genes that prompted them to join groups
(Darwin, 1859/1963).
This process of natural selection culminated in the
creation of a modern human who seeks out membership in groups instinctively,

for most of us are descendants of joiners rather than loners.
Motivation and Performance

Groups usually exist for a reason. In groups, we solve problems, create products,
create standards, communicate knowledge, have fun, perform arts, create
institutions, and even ensure our safety from attacks by other groups. But do
groups always outperform individuals?
1180
Social Facilitation in Groups

Do people perform more effectively when alone or when part of a group?
Norman Triplett (1898) examined this issue in one of the first empirical studies
in psychology. While watching bicycle races, Triplett noticed that cyclists were
faster when they competed against other racers than when they raced alone
against the clock.
To determine if the presence of others leads to the
psychological stimulation that enhances performance, he arranged for 40

children to play a game that involved turning a small reel as quickly as possible
(see Figure 1). When he measured how quickly they turned the reel, he
confirmed that children performed slightly better when they played the game
in pairs compared to when they played alone (see Stroebe, 2012; Strube, 2005).
Figure 1: The "competition machine" Triplett used to study the impact of competition on
performance. Triplett's study was one of the first labratory studies conducted in the field of
social psychology. Triplett, N. (1898)
Triplett succeeded in sparking interest in a phenomenon now known as

social facilitation: the enhancement of an individuals performance when that
person works in the presence of other people. However, it remained for Robert
Zajonc (1965) to specify when social facilitation does and does not occur. After
reviewing prior research, Zajonc noted that the facilitating effects of an audience
1181
usually only occur when the task requires the person to perform dominant
responses, i.e., ones that are well-learned or based on instinctive behaviors. If
the task requires nondominant responses, i.e., novel, complicated, or untried
behaviors that the organism has never performed before or has performed
only infrequently, then the presence of others inhibits performance. Hence,
students write poorer quality essays on complex philosophical questions when
they labor in a group rather than alone (Allport, 1924), but they make fewer
mistakes in solving simple, low-level multiplication problems with an audience
or a coactor than when they work in isolation (Dashiell, 1930).
Social facilitation, then, depends on the task: other people facilitate
performance when the task is so simple that it requires only dominant
responses, but others interfere when the task requires nondominant
responses.
However, a number of psychological processes combine to
influence when social facilitation, not social interference, occurs. Studies of the
challenge-threat response and brain imaging, for example, confirm that we
respond physiologically and neurologically to the presence of others
(Blascovich, Mendes, Hunter, & Salomon, 1999). Other people also can trigger
evaluation apprehension, particularly when we feel that our individual
performance will be known to others, and those others might judge it negatively
(Bond, Atoum, & VanLeeuwen, 1996). The presence of other people can also
cause perturbations in our capacity to concentrate on and process information
(Harkins, 2006). Distractions due to the presence of other people have been
shown to improve performance on certain tasks, such as the Stroop task, but
undermine performance on more cognitively demanding tasks(Huguet,
Galvaing, Monteil, & Dumas, 1999).
1182
Social Loafing
Groups usually outperform individuals. A single student, working alone on a
paper, will get less done in an hour than will four students working on a group
project. One person playing a tug-of-war game against a group will lose. A crew
of movers can pack up and transport your household belongings faster than
you can by yourself. As the saying goes, Many hands make light the work
(Littlepage, 1991; Steiner, 1972).
Groups, though, tend to be underachievers. Studies of social facilitation
confirmed the positive motivational benefits of working with other people on
well-practiced tasks in which each members contribution to the collective
enterprise can be identified and evaluated. But what happens when tasks
require a truly collective effort? First, when people work together they must
coordinate their individual activities and contributions to reach the maximum
level of efficiencybut they rarely do (Diehl & Stroebe, 1987). Three people in
a tug-of-war competition, for example, invariably pull and pause at slightly
different times, so their efforts are uncoordinated. The result is coordination
loss: the three-person group is stronger than a single person, but not three
times as strong. Second, people just dont exert as much effort when working
on a collective endeavor, nor do they expend as much cognitive effort trying to
solve problems, as they do when working alone. They display social loafing
(Latan, 1981).
Bibb Latan, Kip Williams, and Stephen Harkins (1979) examined both
coordination losses and social loafing by arranging for students to cheer or clap
either alone or in groups of varying sizes. The students cheered alone or in 2or 6-person groups, or they were lead to believe they were in 2- or 6-person
groups (those in the pseudo-groups wore blindfolds and headsets that played
masking sound). As Figure 2 indicates, groups generated more noise than
solitary subjects, but the productivity dropped as the groups became larger in
size. In dyads, each subject worked at only 66% of capacity, and in 6-person
1183
groups at 36%. Productivity also dropped when subjects merely believed they
were in groups. If subjects thought that one other person was shouting with
them, they shouted 82% as intensely, and if they thought five other people were
shouting, they reached only 74% of their capacity. These loses in productivity
were not due to coordination problems; this decline in production could be
attributed only to a reduction in effortto social loafing (Latan et al., 1979,
Experiment 2).
1184
Figure 2: Sound pressure per person as a function of group or pseudo group size. Latane,
B. (1981)
1185
Teamwork
Social loafing is no rare phenomenon. When sales personnel work in groups
with shared goals, they tend to take it easy if another salesperson is nearby
who can do their work (George, 1992). People who are trying to generate new,
creative ideas in group brainstorming sessions usually put in less effort and are
thus less productive than people who are generating new ideas individually
(Paulus & Brown, 2007). Students assigned group projects often complain of
inequity in the quality and quantity of each members contributions: Some
people just dont work as much as they should to help the group reach its
learning goals (Neu, 2012). People carrying out all sorts of physical and mental
tasks expend less effort when working in groups, and the larger the group, the
more they loaf (Karau & Williams, 1993).
Groups can, however, overcome this impediment to performance through
teamwork. A group may include many talented individuals, but they must learn
how to pool their individual abilities and energies to maximize the teams
performance. Team goals must be set, work patterns structured, and a sense
of group identity developed. Individual members must learn how to coordinate
their actions, and any strains and stresses in interpersonal relations need to be
identified and resolved (Salas, Rosen, Burke, & Goodwin, 2009).
Researchers have identified two key ingredients to effective teamwork: a
shared mental representation of the task and group unity. Teams improve their
performance over time as they develop a shared understanding of the team
and the tasks they are attempting. Some semblance of this shared mental
model is present nearly from its inception, but as the team practices, differences
among the members in terms of their understanding of their situation and their
team diminish as a consensus becomes implicitly accepted (Tindale, Stawiski,
& Jacobs, 2008).
1186
Effective teams are also, in most cases, cohesive groups (Dion, 2000). Group
cohesion is the integrity, solidarity, social integration, or unity of a group. In
most cases, members of cohesive groups like each other and the group and
they also are united in their pursuit of collective, group-level goals. Members
tend to enjoy their groups more when they are cohesive, and cohesive groups
usually outperform ones that lack cohesion.
This cohesion-performance relationship, however, is a complex one. Metaanalytic studies suggest that cohesion improves teamwork among members,
but that performance quality influences cohesion more than cohesion
influences performance (Mullen & Copper, 1994; Mullen, Driskell, & Salas, 1998;
see Figure 3). Cohesive groups also can be spectacularly unproductive if the
groups norms stress low productivity rather than high productivity (Seashore,
1954).
1187
Figure 3: The relationship between group cohesion and performance over time. Groups
that are cohesive do tend to perform well on tasks now (Time1) and in the future (Time 2).
Notice, though, that the relationship between Performance at Time 1 and Cohesiveness at
Time 2 is greater (r=.51) than the relationship between Cohesion at Time 1 and Performance
at Time 2 (r=.25). These findings suggest that cohesion improves performance, but that a
group that performs well is likely to also become more cohesive. Mullen, Driskell, & Salas (1998)
Group Development
In most cases groups do not become smooth-functioning teams overnight. As
Bruce Tuckmans (1965) theory of group development suggests, groups usually
pass through several stages of development as they change from a newly
formed group into an effective team. As noted in Table 1, in the forming phase,
the members become oriented toward one another. In the storming phase, the
group members find themselves in conflict, and some solution is sought to
improve the group environment. In the norming, phase standards for behavior
1188
and roles develop that regulate behavior. In the performing, phase the group
has reached a point where it can work as a unit to achieve desired goals, and
the adjourning phase ends the sequence of development; the group disbands.
Throughout these stages groups tend to oscillate between the task-oriented
issues and the relationship issues, with members sometimes working hard but
at other times strengthening their interpersonal bonds (Tuckman & Jensen,
1977).
1189
Table 1: Sources based on Tuckman (1965) and Tuckman & Jensen (1977)
We also experience change as we pass through a group, for we dont become

full-fledged members of a group in an instant. Instead, we gradually become a
part of the group and remain in the group until we leave it. Richard Moreland
and John Levines (1982) model of group socialization describes this process,
beginning with initial entry into the group and ending when the member exits
it. For example, when you are thinking of joining a new groupa social club, a
professional society, a fraternity or sorority, or a sports teamyou investigate
1190
what the group has to offer, but the group also investigates you. During this
investigation stage you are still an outsider: interested in joining the group, but
not yet committed to it in any way. But once the group accepts you and you
accept the group, socialization begins: you learn the groups norms and take
on different responsibilities depending on your role. On a sports team, for
example, you may initially hope to be a star who starts every game or plays a
particular position, but the team may need something else from you. In time,
though, the group will accept you as a full-fledged member and both sides in
the processyou and the group itselfincrease their commitment to one
another. When that commitment wanes, however, your membership may come
to an end as well.
Making Decisions in Groups

Groups are particularly useful when it comes to making a decision, for groups
can draw on more resources than can a lone individual. A single individual may
know a great deal about a problem and possible solutions, but his or her
information is far surpassed by the combined knowledge of a group. Groups
not only generate more ideas and possible solutions by discussing the problem,
but they can also more objectively evaluate the options that they generate
during discussion. Before accepting a solution, a group may require that a
certain number of people favor it, or that it meets some other standard of
acceptability. People generally feel that a groups decision will be superior to
an individuals decision.
Groups, however, do not always make good decisions. Juries sometimes
render verdicts that run counter to the evidence presented. Community groups
take radical stances on issues before thinking through all the ramifications.
Military strategists concoct plans that seem, in retrospect, ill-conceived and
short-sighted. Why do groups sometimes make poor decisions?
1191
Group Polarization
Lets say you are part of a group assigned to make a presentation. One of the
group members suggests showing a short video that, although amusing,
includes some provocative images. Even though initially you think the clip is
inappropriate, you begin to change your mind as the group discusses the idea.
The group decides, eventually, to throw caution to the wind and show the clip
and your instructor is horrified by your choice.
This hypothetical example is consistent with studies of groups making
decisions that involve risk. Common sense notions suggest that groups exert
a moderating, subduing effect on their members. However, when researchers
looked at groups closely, they discovered many groups shift toward more
extreme decisions rather than less extreme decisions after group interaction.
Discussion, it turns out, doesnt moderate peoples judgments after all. Instead,
it leads to group polarization: judgments made after group discussion will be
more extreme in the same direction as the average of individual judgments
made prior to discussion (Myers & Lamm, 1976). If a majority of members feel
that taking risks is more acceptable than exercising caution, then the group will
become riskier after a discussion. For example, in France, where people
generally like their government but dislike Americans, group discussion
improved their attitude toward their government but exacerbated their
negative opinions of Americans (Moscovici & Zavalloni, 1969).
Similarly,
prejudiced people who discussed racial issues with other prejudiced individuals
became even more negative, but those who were relatively unprejudiced
exhibited even more acceptance of diversity when in groups (Myers & Bishop,
1970).
1192
Common Knowledge Effect

One of the advantages of making decisions in groups is the groups greater
access to information. When seeking a solution to a problem, group members
can put their ideas on the table and share their knowledge and judgments with
each other through discussions. But all too often groups spend much of their
discussion time examining common knowledgeinformation that two or more
group members know in commonrather than unshared information. This
common knowledge effect will result in a bad outcome if something known by
only one or two group members is very important.
Researchers have studied this bias using the hidden profile task. On such
tasks, information known to many of the group members suggests that one
alternative, say Option A, is best. However, Option B is definitely the better
choice, but all the facts that support Option B are only known to individual
groups membersthey are not common knowledge in the group. As a result,
the group will likely spend most of its time reviewing the factors that favor
Option A, and never discover any of its drawbacks. In consequence, groups
often perform poorly when working on problems with nonobvious solutions
that can only be identified by extensive information sharing (Stasser & Titus,
1987).
Groupthink
Groups sometimes make spectacularly bad decisions. In 1961, a special advisory
committee to President John F. Kennedy planned and implemented a covert
invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs that ended in total disaster. In 1986, NASA
carefully, and incorrectly, decided to launch the Challenger space shuttle in
temperatures that were too cold.
1193
Irving Janis (1982), intrigued by these kinds of blundering groups, carried

out a number of case studies of such groups: the military experts that planned
the defense of Pearl Harbor; Kennedys Bay of Pigs planning group; the
presidential team that escalated the war in Vietnam. Each group, he concluded,
fell prey to a distorted style of thinking that rendered the group members
incapable of making a rational decision. Janis labeled this syndrome groupthink:
a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a
cohesive in-group, when the members strivings for unanimity override their
motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action (p. 9).
Janis identified both the telltale symptoms that signal the group is
experiencing groupthink and the interpersonal factors that combine to cause
groupthink. To Janis, groupthink is a disease that infects healthy groups,
rendering them inefficient and unproductive. And like the physician who
searches for symptoms that distinguish one disease from another, Janis
identified a number of symptoms that should serve to warn members that they
may be falling prey to groupthink. These symptoms include overestimating the
groups skills and wisdom, biased perceptions and evaluations of other groups
and people who are outside of the group, strong conformity pressures within
the group, and poor decision-making methods.
Janis also singled out four group-level factors that combine to cause
groupthink: cohesion, isolation, biased leadership, and decisional stress.
Cohesion: Groupthink only occurs in cohesive groups. Such groups have

many advantages over groups that lack unity.
People enjoy their
membership much more in cohesive groups, they are less likely to abandon
the group, and they work harder in pursuit of the groups goals. But extreme
cohesiveness can be dangerous. When cohesiveness intensifies, members
become more likely to accept the goals, decisions, and norms of the group
without reservation. Conformity pressures also rise as members become
reluctant to say or do anything that goes against the grain of the group, and
1194
the number of internal disagreementsnecessary for good decision

makingdecreases.
Isolation. Groupthink groups too often work behind closed doors, keeping
out of the limelight. They isolate themselves from outsiders and refuse to
modify their beliefs to bring them into line with societys beliefs. They avoid
leaks by maintaining strict confidentiality and working only with people who
are members of their group.
Biased leadership. A biased leader who exerts too much authority over
group members can increase conformity pressures and railroad decisions.
In groupthink groups, the leader determines the agenda for each meeting,
sets limits on discussion, and can even decide who will be heard.
Decisional stress. Groupthink becomes more likely when the group is

stressed, particularly by time pressures. When groups are stressed they
minimize their discomfort by quickly choosing a plan of action with little
argument or dissension. Then, through collective discussion, the group
members can rationalize their choice by exaggerating the positive
consequences,
minimizing
the
possibility
of
negative
outcomes,
concentrating on minor details, and overlooking larger issues.
You and Your Groups

Most of us belong to at least one group that must make decisions from time to
time: a community group that needs to choose a fund-raising project; a union
or employee group that must ratify a new contract; a family that must discuss
your college plans; or the staff of a high school discussing ways to deal with the
1195
potential for violence during football games. Could these kinds of groups
experience groupthink?
Yes they could, if the symptoms of groupthink
discussed above are present, combined with other contributing causal factors,
such as cohesiveness, isolation, biased leadership, and stress.
To avoid
polarization, the common knowledge effect, and groupthink, groups should

strive to emphasize open inquiry of all sides of the issue while admitting the
possibility of failure. The leaders of the group can also do much to limit
groupthink by requiring full discussion of pros and cons, appointing devils
advocates, and breaking the group up into small discussion groups.
If these precautions are taken, your group has a much greater chance of
making an informed, rational decision. Furthermore, although your group
should review its goals, teamwork, and decision-making strategies, the human
side of groupsthe strong friendships and bonds that make group activity so
enjoyableshouldnt be overlooked.
Groups have instrumental, practical
value, but also emotional, psychological value. In groups we find others who
appreciate and value us. In groups we gain the support we need in difficult
times, but also have the opportunity to influence others. In groups we find
evidence of our self-worth, and secure ourselves from the threat of loneliness
and despair. For most of us, groups are the secret source of well-being.
1196
Outside Resources
Audio: This American Life. Episode 109 deals with the motivation and
excitement of joining with others at summer camp.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/109/notes-on-camp
Audio: This American Life. Episode 158 examines how people act when they
are immersed in a large crowd.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/158/mob-mentality
Audio: This American Life. Episode 61 deals with fiascos, many of which are
perpetrated by groups.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/61/fiasco
Audio: This American Life. Episode 74 examines how individuals act at
conventions, when they join with hundreds or thousands of other people
who are similar in terms of their avocations or employment.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/74/conventions
Journal Article: The Dynamogenic Factors in Pacemaking and Competition
presents Norman Tripletts original paper on what would eventually be
known as social facilitation.
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Triplett/
Video: Flash mobs illustrate the capacity of groups to organize quickly and
complete complex tasks. One well-known example of a pseudo-flash mob is
the rendition of Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music in the Central Station
of Antwerp in 2009.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k
Web: Group Development - This is a website developed by James Atherton

that provides detailed information about group development, with
application to the lifecycle of a typical college course.
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/group_ development.htm
Web: Group Dynamics- A general repository of links, short articles, and
discussions examining groups and group processes, including such topics as
crowd behavior, leadership, group structure, and influence.
http://donforsythgroups.wordpress.com/
Web: Stanford Crowd Project - This is a rich resource of information about
all things related to crowds, with a particular emphasis on crowds and
collective behavior in literature and the arts.
http://press-media.stanford.edu/crowds/main.html
Working Paper: Law of Group Polarization, by Cass Sunstein, is a wide-ranging
application of the concept of polarization to a variety of legal and political
decisions.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=199668
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of sociality? Why do people
often join groups?
2. Is self-esteem shaped by your personality qualities or by the value and
qualities of groups to which you belong?
3. In what ways does membership in a group change a persons self-concept
and social identity?
4. What steps would you take if you were to base a self-esteem enrichment
program in schools on the sociometer model of self-worth?
5. If you were a college professor, what would you do to increase the success
of in-class learning teams?
6. What are the key ingredients to transforming a working group into a true
team?
7. Have you ever been part of a group that made a poor decision and, if so,
were any of the symptoms of groupthink present in your group?
Vocabulary
Collective self-esteem
Feelings of self-worth that are based on evaluation of relationships with others
and membership in social groups.
Common knowledge effect
The tendency for groups to spend more time discussing information that all
members know (shared information) and less time examining information that
only a few members know (unshared).
Group cohesion
The solidarity or unity of a group resulting from the development of strong and
mutual interpersonal bonds among members and group-level forces that unify
the group, such as shared commitment to group goals.
Group polarization
The tendency for members of a deliberating group to move to a more extreme
position, with the direction of the shift determined by the majority or average
of the members predeliberation preferences.
Groupthink
A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions of vulnerability, selfcensorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups
seek concurrence when making a decision.
Ostracism
Excluding one or more individuals from a group by reducing or eliminating
contact with the person, usually by ignoring, shunning, or explicitly banishing
them.
Shared mental model
Knowledge, expectations, conceptualizations, and other cognitive representations
that members of a group have in common pertaining to the group and its
members, tasks, procedures, and resources.
Social comparison
The process of contrasting ones personal qualities and outcomes, including
beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences, to those
of other people.
Social facilitation
Improvement in task performance that occurs when people work in the
presence of other people.
Social identity theory
A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes
groups influence their members self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly
when individuals categorize themselves as group members and identify with
the group.
Social loafing
The reduction of individual effort exerted when people work in groups
compared with when they work alone.
Sociometer model
A conceptual analysis of self-evaluation processes that theorizes self-esteem
functions to psychologically monitor of ones degree of inclusion and exclusion
in social groups.
Teamwork
The process by which members of the team combine their knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other resources through a coordinated series of actions to produce
an outcome.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Psychology of Groups by Donelson R. Forsyth
Prejudice, Discrimination,
and Stereotyping
Susan T. Fiske
Princeton University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
People often are biased against people not from their own group, showing
prejudice (emotional bias), stereotypes (cognitive bias), and discrimination
(behavioral bias). Bias used to be more open, but during the 20th century, bias
became more subtle (automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent). In the 21st
century, social group categories have become more complex, perhaps
transforming older biases.
Learning Objectives
Distinguish prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination.
Distinguish old-fashioned, blatant biases from contemporary, subtle biases.
Understand old-fashioned biases such as social dominance orientation and

right-wing. authoritarianism.
Understand subtle, unexamined biases that are automatic, ambiguous, and

ambivalent.
Understand 21st century biases that may break down as identities get more
complicated.
Introduction
Mother to son:
Whats your pet peeve about people misunderstanding you? Everyone wants
to be seen for who they are, not as just another typical X, even in your own
family. So why do people put other people into groups, and what happens when
we do? This chapter focuses on biases against social groups, which social
psychologists sort into emotional prejudices, mental stereotypes, and
behavioral discrimination. These three aspects of bias are related, but they
each can occur separately from the others (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2010; Fiske,
1998). For example, sometimes people resent a social group (prejudice) without
knowing even the most superficial things about it (stereotypes).
This chapter shows that todays biases are not the same as yesterdays biases
in many ways, but in other ways, the more things change, the more they stay
the same. We start with old-fashioned biases that might have belonged to our
grandparents and great-grandparentsplus a few people who never left the
bad old days. Then we will discuss late 20th century biases that affected our
parents and still linger today. Finally, we will talk about todays 21st century
biases that challenge fairness and respect for all.
Old-fashioned Biases: Almost Gone

The United States is one of the only countries in the world that has equality in
its constitution. Granted, that equality included only white, male landowners,
and we have come a long way since then. Nevertheless, that legacy can make
us proud and make us examine the ways we come up short of our shared ideals.
Old-fashioned biases were simple, with people openly putting down people
not from their own group. Nowadays, nobody wishes us back to slavery,
internment of citizens, taking away womens vote, or denying handicap ramps
in public buildings. Earlier, people expected other people to share their
nobaproject.com - Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping
1213
prejudices. For example, just 80 years ago, American college students thought
Turkish people were cruel, very religious, and treacherous (Katz & Braly, 1933).
Where did they get those ideas, assuming that few of them had every met
anyone from Turkey? Old-fashioned stereotypes were overt and unapologetic.
Blatant biases are conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are
perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favor their own group.
Blatant biases tend to run in packs: People who openly hate one outgroup also
hate many others. On the other hand, people who reject overt prejudice tend
to be tolerant of most groups. Two scales illustrate this pattern, so we turn to
them next.
Social Dominance Orientation

Social dominance orientation (SDO) describes a belief that group hierarchies
are inevitable in all societies and even a good idea, to maintain order and stability
(Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). The SDO preference for group inequality asserts that
some groups are simply better than others and that group equality is not a
good ideal. SDO is not the same as being personally dominant and controlling;
SDO describes a preferred arrangement of groups with some on top (preferably
ones own group) and some on the bottom. SDO is not mainly about being
politically conservative or liberal. Although SDO correlates with being
conservative, SDO is more than that because researchers can control for
conservatism and still find that SDO influences attitudes about groups. Scoring
higher on SDO does correlate with lower tolerance, empathy, altruism, and
community orientation. SDO predicts a belief in work ethic, that hard work
always pays off, and that leisure is a waste of time. People higher on SDO tend
to choose and thrive in occupations that maintain existing group hierarchies
(police, prosecutors, business), compared to those lower in SDO, who tend to
pick more equalizing occupations (social work, public defense, psychology).
1214
The point is that SDOa preference for inequality as normal and natural
also predicts endorsing the superiority of certain groups: Whites, men, nativeborn residents, heterosexuals, and Christians. This means seeing minorities,
women,
immigrants,
homosexuals,
and
non-Christians
as
inferior.
Understandably, the listed groups tend to score, respectively, higher and lower
on SDO. The SDO gender difference (men higher, women lower) appears all
over the world.
SDO rests on a fundamental belief that the world is tough and competitive,
so it correlates with seeing groups as battling each other for limited resources,
with winners and losers. SDO sees intergroup relations as economic combat
(see Table 1).
Table 1. Old-Fashioned Biases
Right-wing Authoritarianism
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) focuses on value conflicts instead of the
economic ones that SDO targets. RWA endorses respect for obedience and
authority in the service of group conformity (Altemeyer, 1988). RWA values
group unity over individual preferences, to maintain group values in the face
of deviance. Despite its name, it is not necessarily limited to people on the right
(conservatives), but it does correlate with a preference for order, clarity, and
conventional values that more often fit conservative beliefs. RWA focuses on
1215
groups competing value frameworks, and extreme scores on RWA predict

biases against groups seen as outsiders while demanding own-group loyalty
and conformity to preserve its values. RWA therefore correlates with seeing
other groups as a threat to cherished values. The combination of high RWA and
high SDO predicts joining hate groups that openly endorse aggression against
minority groups, immigrants, homosexuals, and non-Christians (Altemeyer,
2004).
20th Century Biases: Subtle but Significant

Old-fashioned biases have diminished over the 20th century and into the 21st
century. Openly expressing prejudice is like blowing second-hand smoke in
someones face: Its just not done any more, in most circles. Still, people have
biases under the radar. These subtle biases are unexamined and sometimes
unconscious, but real in their consequences. They are automatic, ambiguous,
and ambivalent, but biased, unfair, and disrespectful to our shared American
way.
Automatic Biases
Most people like themselves well enough, and most people identify themselves
as members of certain groups but not others. Logic suggests that they would
therefore like their own groups well enough, whether those groups are
hometown, school, religion, gender, or ethnicity. Liking yourself and your groups
is human nature. The larger issue is that own-group preference suggests liking
other groups less. This trade-off is relatively automatic, that is, unintended,
immediate, and irresistible.
1216
Social psychologists have developed several ways to measure this relatively

automatic own-group preference, the most famous being the Implicit
Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, Banaji, Rudman, Farnham, Nosek, & Mellott,
2002; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). The test itself is simple (Google
implicit or go to understandingprejudice.org, to find it). The IAT asks you to
sort categories of people, for example, young names (Jason, Jennifer) versus
old names (Jerry, Jane), and at the same time, sort good things (sunshine,
flowers) and bad things (cancer, murder) on the same side or opposite sides.
Younger people quickly sort young names and good things on the same side
(and old names and bad things on the opposite side), and they do this faster
than the reverse pairings (young/bad and old/good). What this task picks up is
how easily people pair ideas with the same evaluation, positive or negative. In
this case, people mostly pair their own group with good things and other groups
with bad things. This generally holds for race, age, religion, nationality, and even
temporary, minimal, arbitrary group memberships.
This all-too-human tendency would remain a mere curiosity except that the
IAT acts like an attitude about other groups. IAT predicts feelings about other
individuals from other groups, decisions about them, and behavior toward
them, especially nonverbal behavior (Greenwald, Poehlman, Uhlmann, &
Banaji, 2009). In a job interview, for example, if the manager acts distant and
indifferent, it can have devastating effects on the hopeful interviewees ability
to perform well (Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1973). The IAT predicts economic
discrimination, allocating fewer resources to disliked outgroups (Rudman &
Ashmore, 2009). All this is both unfair and disrespectful. And sometimes our
automatic associationsoften driven by societys stereotypestrump our own
values (Devine, 1989). See Table 2 for a summary of this section and the next
two sections on subtle biases.
1217
Table 2. Subtle Biases
Ambiguous Biases
As the IAT indicates, peoples biases often stem from the spontaneous tendency
to favor their own, at the expense of the other. Outgroup disliking stems from
ingroup liking (Brewer & Brown, 1998). Given the chance, people reward their
own groupeven when it does not benefit them personally. Mostly, people do
not punish the other group as much as neglect it in favor of the ingroup. Social
identity theory (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971) describes peoples
tendency to favor their own group (the ingroup) over another group (the
outgroup).
People also exaggerate the difference between ingroup and
outgroup. And we see each as more homogeneous than they are. This results
in the perception that they really differ from us, and they are all alike, besides.
People categorize people into groups as spontaneously as we categorize
furniture or fruit. The difference is that we inhabit one of the categories, as selfcategorization theory points out (Turner, 1975). Because these group
categories are not neutral, we favor people like usand incidentally disfavor
those others. Ingroup favoritism is an ambiguous form of bias because it
disfavors the outgroup by exclusion. In hiring, for example, this can result in
not getting the job. All this stems from the natural human tendency to be more
comfortable with people like yourself.
1218
A specific case of comfort with the ingroup is aversive racism, so-called

because people do not like to admit their own racial biases to themselves or
others (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2010). Tensions between, say, a White persons own
good intentions and discomfort with the perhaps novel situation of interacting
closely with a Black person may cause the White person to feel uneasy, behave
stiffly, be distracted, or avoid the situation altogether, given a good excuse. This
reaction will be ambiguous to both parties and hard to interpret. But indicators
of aversive racism correlate with discriminatory behavior, despite being the
ambiguous result of good intentions gone bad.
Ambivalent Biases
People often have mixed feelings toward other groups. Not all stereotypes are
all bad (Asians are sometimes considered the model minority), and emotional
prejudices may be ambivalent (pitying people with disabilities may seem
charitable, but disrespects them at the same time). Sexist people may feel
themselves benevolent toward traditional women and hostile only toward
nontraditional women. Racist people may feel paternalistic sympathy toward
Black or Latino people but also fault their supposed work ethic. Ageist people
may feel fond of older people but resent their taking up shared resources. A
simple way to understand these mixed feelings, across a variety of groups,
results from the Stereotype Content Model (Fiske, Cuddy, & Glick, 2007).
When people learn about a new group, they first want to know its intentions
for good or ill. Like the guard at night: Who goes there, friend or foe? If the
other group has good, cooperative intentions, they are warm and trustworthy,
on our side; otherwise, they are cold competitors or exploiters, not on our side.
After intentions, we want to know whether they are competent to act on their
intentions (if they are incompetent, they matter less). These two simple
dimensionswarmth and competencetogether map how groups relate to
each other in society.
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American groups who seem both warm and competent include citizens and
the middle class. Even people who dont belong to these groups know that these
are the groups our society admires. At the opposite extreme are homeless
people and drug addicts, stereotyped as not having good intentions (perhaps
exploitative, seen as not trying to play by the rules), and likewise being
incompetent (unable) to do anything useful. These groups reportedly make
society more disgusted than any other groups do. However, these extreme
ingroups and outgroups are only half the map.
Some group stereotypes are mixed, high on one dimension and low on the
other. Groups stereotyped as competent but not warm, for example, include
rich people and outsiders good at business (Jewish or Asian people, in the U.S.
at this time). Groups seen as competent but cold make people feel some envy,
admitting that they may have some talent but resenting them for not being
people like us. The model minority stereotype includes excessive
competence but deficient sociability. Being stereotyped this way is not all good.
The other mixed combination is high warmth but low competence. Groups
who fit this combination include older people and disabled people. Others
report pitying them, but only so long as they stay in their place. Grey panthers
or disability-rights activists give up the pity, although they may gain some
respect.
Altogether, these four kinds of stereotypes and their associated emotional
prejudices (pride, disgust, envy, pity) occur all over the world, for each societys
own groups. These maps of the group terrain predict specific types of
discrimination for specific kinds of groups, underlining how bias is not exactly
equal opportunity.
1220
21st Century Prejudices: Its Complicated

As our nation become more diverse, more global, and more intermarried, most
people are encountering a bigger variety of people in everyday life and certainly
through the media. How often have you heard someone ask, What are you?
Categories are more and more uncertain, unclear, volatile, and complex
(Bodenhausen & Peery, 2009). Peoples identities are multifaceted intersecting
across gender, race, class, age, region, and more. Identities are not so simple,
and maybe the 21st century will allow us to recognize each other for the content
of our character instead of the color of our skin or the cover on our outside.
1221
Outside Resources
Web: Website exploring the causes and consequences of prejudice.
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/
1. Do you know more people from different kinds of social groups than your
parents did?
2. How often do you hear people criticizing groups without knowing anything
about them?
3. Take the IAT. Could you feel that some associations are easier than others?
4. What groups illustrate ambivalent biases, seemingly competent but cold,
or warm but incompetent?
5. Do you or someone you know believe that group hierarchies are inevitable?
Desirable?
6. How can people learn to get along with people who seem different from
them?
Vocabulary
Automatic bias
Automatic biases are unintended, immediate, and irresistible.
Aversive racism
Aversive racism is unexamined racial bias that the person does not intend and
would reject, but that avoids inter-racial contact.
Blatant biases
Blatant biases are conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are
perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favor their own group.
Discrimination
Discrimination is behavior that advantages or disadvantages people merely
based on their group membership.
Implicit Association Test
Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures relatively automatic biases that favor
own group relative to other groups.
Prejudice
Prejudice is an evaluation or emotion toward people merely based on their
group membership.
Right-wing authoritarianism
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) focuses on value conflicts but endorses
respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity.
Self-categorization theory
Self-categorization theory develops social identity theorys point that people
categorize themselves, along with each other into groups, favoring their own
group.
Social dominance orientation
Social dominance orientation (SDO) describes a belief that group hierarchies
are inevitable in all societies and even good, to maintain order and stability.
Social identity theory
Social identity theory notes that people categorize each other into groups,
favoring their own group.
Stereotype Content Model
Stereotype Content Model shows that social groups are viewed according to
their perceived warmth and competence.
Stereotypes
Stereotype is a belief that characterizes people based merely on their group
membership.
Subtle biases
Subtle biases are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent, but real in their
consequences.
Reference List
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Altemeyer, B. (1988). Enemies of freedom: Understanding right-wing
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Bodenhausen, G. V., & Peery, D. (2009). Social categorization and stereotyping
in vivo: The VUCA challenge. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3
(2), 133-151. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00167.x
Brewer, M. B., & Brown, R. J. (1998). Intergroup relations. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T.
Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, Vols. 1 and 2
(4th ed.) (pp. 554-594). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled
components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(1), 5-18.
doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.1.5
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2010). Intergroup bias. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert,
& G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology, Vol. 2 (5th ed.) (pp.
1084-1121). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Fiske, S. T. (1998). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. In D. T. Gilbert,
S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, Vols. 1
and 2 (4th ed.) (pp. 357-411). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., & Glick, P. (2007). Universal dimensions of social
cognition: Warmth and competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(2),
77-83. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.005
Greenwald, A. G., Banaji, M. R., Rudman, L. A., Farnham, S. D., Nosek, B. A., &
Mellott, D. S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, selfesteem, and self-concept. Psychological Review, 109(1), 3-25.
doi:10.1037/0033-295X.109.1.3
Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual
differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 74(6), 1464-1480. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1464
Greenwald, A. G., Poehlman, T. A., Uhlmann, E. L., & Banaji, M. R. (2009).
Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: III. Meta-analysis of
predictive validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 17-41.
doi:10.1037/a0015575
Katz, D., & Braly, K. (1933). Racial stereotypes of one hundred college students.
The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28(3), 280-290. doi:10.1037/
h0074049
Rudman, L. A., & Ashmore, R. D. (2007). Discrimination and the implicit
association test. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10(3), 359-372.
doi:10.1177/1368430207078696
Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social
hierarchy and oppression. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tajfel, H., Billig, M. G., Bundy, R. P., & Flament, C. (1971). Social categorization
and intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1(2),
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping by

Susan T. Fiske is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Aggression and Violence

Brad J. Bushman
The Ohio State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter discusses the causes and consequences of human aggression and
violence. Both internal and external causes are considered. Effective and
ineffective techniques for reducing aggression are also discussed.
Learning Objectives
Explain the important components of the definition of aggression, and

explain how aggression differs from violence.
Explain whether people think the world is less violent now than in the past,
and whether it actually is less violent. If there is a discrepancy between
perception and reality, how can it be resolved?
Identify the internal causes and external causes of aggression. Compare

and contrast how the inner and external causes differ.
Identify effective and ineffective approaches to reducing aggression.
Introduction
Aggression is indeed the dark side of human nature. Although aggression may
have been adaptive in our ancient past, it hardly seems adaptive today. For
example, on 14 December 2012 Adam Lanza, age 20, first killed his mother in
their home, and then went to an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut
and began shooting, killing 20 children and 6 school employees, before killing
himself. When incidents such as these happen, we want to know what caused
them. Although it is impossible to know what motivated a particular individual
such as Lanza to commit the Newtown school shooting, for decades researchers
have studied the internal and external factors that influence aggression and
violence. We consider some of these factors in this chapter.
Before we get too far, lets begin by defining the term aggression. Laypeople
and researchers often use the term aggression differently. Laypeople might
describe a salesperson that tries really hard to sell them something as
aggressive. The salesperson does not, however, want to harm potential
customers. Most researchers define aggression as any behavior intended to
harm another person who does not want to be harmed (Baron & Richardson,
1994). This definition includes three important features. First, aggression is a
behavioryou can see it. Aggression is not an internal response, such as having
angry feelings or aggressive thoughts (although such internal responses can
increase the likelihood of actual aggression). Second, aggression is intentional
rather than accidental. For example, a dentist might intentionally give a patient
a shot of Novocain (which hurts!), but the goal is to help rather than harm the
patient. Third, the victim wants to avoid the harm. Thus, suicide and
sadomasochistic sex play would not be called aggression because the victim
actively seeks to be harmed.
nobaproject.com - Aggression and Violence
1233
Researchers and laypeople also differ in their use of the term violence. A
meteorologist might call a storm violent if it has intense winds, rain, thunder,
lightning, or hail. Researchers define violence as aggression intended to cause
extreme physical harm (e.g., injury, death). Thus, all violent acts are aggressive,
but not all aggressive acts are violent. For example, screaming and swearing at
another person is aggressive, but not violent.
Figure 1. Rate of battle deaths in state-based armed conflicts, 1946-2008. Civilian and
military battle deaths in state-based armed conflicts, divided by world population. Sources:
UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset; see Human Security Report Project (2007), based on data
from Lacina and Gleditsch (2005), updated in 2010 by Tara Cooper. Best estimate used when
available; otherwise the geometric mean of the High and Low estimates is used. World
population figures from U.S. Census Bureau (2010). Population data for 1946-1949 were taken
from McEvedy and Jones (1978), and multiplied by 1.01 to make them commensurate with
the rest. From Pinker (2011, p. 301). Copyright permission granted by Steven Pinker.
The good news is that the level of violence in the world is decreasing over
timeby millennia, century, and even decade (Pinker, 2011). Studies of body
counts, such as the proportion of prehistoric skeletons with axe and arrowhead
wounds, suggest that prehistoric societies were far more violent than those
today. Estimates show that if the wars of the 20th century had killed the same
proportion of the population as ancient tribal wars did, then the death toll would
have been 20 times higher2 billion rather than 100 million. More recent data
show that murder rates in Europe have decreased dramatically since the Middle
1234
Ages. For example, estimated murders in England dropped from 24 per 100,000
in the 14th century to 0.6 per 100,000 by the early 1960s. The major decline in
violence occurred in the 17th century during the Age of Reason, which began
in the Netherlands and England and then spread to other European countries.
Global violence has also steadily decreased since the middle of the 20th century.
For example, the number of battle deaths in interstate wars has declined from
more than 65,000 per year in the 1950s to fewer than 2,000 per year in the
2000s. There have also been global declines in the number of armed conflicts
and combat deaths, the number of military coups, and the number of deadly
violence campaigns waged against civilians. For example, Figure 1 shows the
number of battle deaths per 100,000 people per year over 60 years (see Pinker,
2011, p. 301). As can be seen, battle deaths of all types (civil, colonial, interstate,
internationalized civil) have decreased over time. The claim that violence has
decreased dramatically over time may seem hard to believe in todays digital
age when we are constantly bombarded by scenes of violence in the media. In
the news media, the top stories are the most violent onesIf it bleeds it leads,
so the saying goes. Citizen journalists around the world also use social media
to show and tell the world about unjustified acts of violence. Because violent
images are more available to us now than ever before, we incorrectly assume
that violence levels are also higher. Our tendency to overestimate the amount
of violence in the world is due to the availability heuristic, which is the tendency
to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the ease with which relevant
instances come to mind. Because we are frequently exposed to scenes of
violence in the mass media, acts of violence are readily accessible in memory
and come to mind easily, so we assume violence is more common than it actually
is.
Human aggression is very complex and is caused by multiple factors. We
will consider a few of the most important internal and external causes of
aggression. Internal causes include anything the individual brings to the
situation that increases the probability of aggression. External causes include
1235
anything in the environment that increases the probability of aggression. Finally,

we will consider a few strategies for reducing aggression.
Internal Factors
Age
At what age are people most aggressive? You might be surprised to learn that
toddlers 1 to 3 years old are most aggressive. Toddlers often rely on physical
aggression to resolve conflict and get what they want. In free play situations,
researchers have found that 25 percent of their interactions are aggressive
(Tremblay, 2000). No other group of individuals (e.g., Mafia, street gangs) resorts
to aggression 25 percent of the time. Fortunately for the rest of us, most toddler
aggression isnt severe enough to qualify as violence because they dont use
weapons, such as guns and knives. As children grow older, they learn to inhibit
their aggressive impulses and resolve conflict using nonaggressive means, such
as compromise and negotiation. Although most people become less aggressive
over time, a small subset of people becomes more aggressive over time. The
most dangerous years for this small subset of people (and for society as a whole)
are late adolescence and early adulthood. For example, 18- to 24-year-olds
commit most murders in the U.S. (U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012).
Gender
At all ages, males tend to be more physically aggressive than females. However,
it would be wrong to think that females are never physically aggressive. Females
do use physical aggression, especially when they are provoked by other females
(Collins, Quigley, & Leonard, 2007). Among heterosexual partners, women are
actually slightly more likely than men to use physical aggression (Archer, 2000).
1236
However, when men do use physical aggression, they are more likely than
women to cause serious injuries and even death to their partners. When people
are strongly provoked, gender differences in aggression shrink (Bettencourt &
Miller, 1996).
Females are much more likely than males to engage in relational aggression,
defined as intentionally harming another persons social relationships, feelings
of acceptance, or inclusion within a group (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Examples
of relational aggression include gossiping, spreading rumors, withdrawing
affection to get what you want, excluding someone from your circle of friends,
and giving someone the silent treatment.
Personality Traits Related to Aggression

Some people seem to be cranky and aggressive almost all the time.
Aggressiveness is almost as stable as intelligence over time (Olweus, 1979).
Individual differences in aggressiveness are often assessed using self-report
questionnaires such as the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992),
which includes items such as I get into fights a little more than the average
person and When frustrated, I let my irritation show. Scores on these
questionnaires are positively related to actual aggressive and violent behaviors
(Anderson & Bushman, 1997).
The components of the Dark Triad of Personalitynarcissism,
psychopathy, and Machiavellianismare also related to aggression (Paulhus &
Williams, 2002). The term narcissism comes from the mythical Greek character
Narcissus who fell in love with his own image reflected in the water. Narcissists
have inflated egos, and they lash out aggressively against others when their
inflated egos are threatened (e.g., Bushman & Baumeister, 1998). It is a common
myth that aggressive people have low self-esteem (Bushman et al., 2009).
Psychopaths are calloused individuals who lack empathy for others. One of the
strongest deterrents of aggression is empathy, which psychopaths lack. The
1237
term Machiavellianism comes from the Italian philosopher and writer Niccol
Machiavelli, who advocated using any means necessary to gain raw political
power, including aggression and violence.
Hostile Cognitive Biases

One key to keeping aggression in check is to give people the benefit of the
doubt. Some people, however, do just the opposite. There are three hostile
cognitive biases. The hostile attribution bias is the tendency to perceive
ambiguous actions by others as hostile actions (Dodge, 1980). For example, if
a person bumps into you, a hostile attribution would be that the person did it
on purpose and wants to hurt you. The hostile perception bias is the tendency
to perceive social interactions in general as being aggressive (Dill et al., 1997).
For example, if you see two people talking in an animated fashion, a hostile
perception would be that they are fighting with each other. The hostile
expectation bias is the tendency to expect others to react to potential conflicts
with aggression (Dill et al., 1997). For example, if you bump into another person,
a hostile expectation would be that the person will assume that you did it on
purpose and will attack you in return. People with hostile cognitive biases view
the world as a hostile place.
External Factors
Frustration and Other Unpleasant Events
One of the earliest theories of aggression proposed that aggression is caused
by frustration, which was defined as blocking goal-directed behavior (Dollard
et al., 1939).For example, if you are standing in a long line to purchase a ticket,
it is frustrating when someone crowds in front of you.This theory was later
1238
expanded to say that all unpleasant events, not just frustrations, cause
aggression (Berkowitz, 1989). Unpleasant events such as frustrations,
provocations, social rejections, hot temperatures, loud noises, bad air (e.g.,
pollution, foul odors, secondhand smoke), and crowding can all cause
aggression. Unpleasant events automatically trigger a fightflight response.
Weapons
Obviously, using a weapon can increase aggression and violence, but can just
seeing a weapon increase aggression? To find out, researchers sat angry
participants at a table that had a shotgun and a revolver on itor, in the control
condition, badminton racquets and shuttlecocks (Berkowitz & LePage, 1967).
The items on the table were supposedly part of a different study, but the
researcher had forgotten to put them away. The participant was supposed to
decide what level of electric shock to deliver to a person pretending to be
another participant, and the electric shocks were used to measure aggression.
The experimenter told participants to ignore the items on the table, but
apparently they could not. Participants who saw the guns gave more shocks
than did participants who saw the sports items. Several other studies have
replicated this so-called weapons effect, including some conducted outside the
lab (Carlson, Marcus-Newhall, & Miller, 1990). For example, one study found
that motorists were more likely to honk their horns at another driver stalled in
a pickup truck with a rifle visible in his rear window than in response to the
same delay from the same truck, but with no gun (Turner, Layton, & Simons,
1975). When you think about it, you would have to be pretty stupid to honk
your horn at a driver with a rifle in his truck. However, drivers were probably
responding in an automatic rather than a deliberate manner. Other research
has shown drivers who have guns in their vehicles are more aggressive drivers
than those without guns in their vehicles (Hemenway, Vriniotis, & Miller, 2006).
1239
Violent Media
There are plenty of aggressive cues in the mass media, such as in TV programs,
films, and video games. In the U.S., the Surgeon General warns the public about
threats to their physical and mental health. Most Americans know that the U.
S. Surgeon General issued a warning about cigarettes in 1964: Warning: The
Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your
Health. However, most Americans do not know that the U.S. Surgeon General
issued a warning regarding violent TV programs in 1972: It is clear to me that
the causal relationship between televised violence and antisocial behavior is
sufficient to warrant appropriate and immediate remedial action. . . . There
comes a time when the data are sufficient to justify action. That time has come
(Steinfeld, 1972). Since then, hundreds of additional studies have shown that
all forms of violent media can increase aggression (e.g., Anderson & Bushman,
2002). Violent video games might even be more harmful than violent TV
programs, for at least three reasons. First, playing a video game is active,
whereas watching a TV program is passive. Active involvement enhances
learning. One study found that boys who played a violent video game were
more aggressive afterward than were boys who merely watched the same game
(Polman, Orobio de Castro, & van Aken, 2008). Second, video game players are
more likely to identify with a violent character than TV watchers. If the game
involves a first-person shooter, players have the same visual perspective as the
killer. If the game is third person, the player controls the characters actions
from a more distant visual perspective. In either case, the player is linked to a
violent character. Research has shown that people are more aggressive when
they identify with a violent character (e.g., Konijn, Nije Bijvank, & Bushman,
2007). Third, violent games directly reward players for violent behavior by
awarding points or by allowing them to advance in the game. In some games,
players are also rewarded through verbal praise, such as hearing Impressive!
after killing an enemy. In TV programs, reward is not directly tied to the viewers
1240
behavior. It is well known that rewarding behavior increases its frequency. One
study found that players were more aggressive after playing a violent game
that rewarded violent actions than after playing the same game that punished
violent actions (Carnagey & Anderson, 2005). The evidence linking violent video
games to aggression is compelling. A comprehensive review found that violent
games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and aggressive behaviors
and decrease empathic feelings and prosocial behaviors (Anderson et al., 2010).
Similar effects were obtained for males and females, regardless of their age,
and regardless of what country they were from.
Alcohol
Alcohol has long been associated with aggression and violence. In fact,
sometimes alcohol is deliberately used to promote aggression. It has been
standard practice for many centuries to issue soldiers some alcohol before they
went into battle, both to increase aggression and reduce fear (Keegan, 1993).
There is ample evidence of a link between alcohol and aggression, including
evidence from experimental studies showing that consuming alcohol can cause
an increase in aggression (e.g., Lipsey, Wilson, Cohen, & Derzon, 1997). Most
theories of intoxicated aggression fall into one of two categories: (a)
pharmacological theories that focus on how alcohol disrupts cognitive
processes, and (b) expectancy theories that focus on how social attitudes about
alcohol facilitate aggression. Normally, people have strong inhibitions against
behaving aggressively, and pharmacological models focus on how alcohol
reduces these inhibitions. To use a car analogy, alcohol increases aggression
by cutting the brake line rather than by stepping on the gas. How does alcohol
cut the brake line? Alcohol disrupts cognitive executive functions that help us
organize, plan, achieve goals, and inhibit inappropriate behaviors (Giancola,
2000). Alcohol also reduces glucose, which provides energy to the brain for selfcontrol (Gailliot & Baumeister, 2007). Alcohol has a myopic effect on attention
1241
it causes people to focus attention only on the most salient features of a

situation and not pay attention to more subtle features (Steele & Josephs, 1990).
In some places where alcohol is consumed (e.g., crowded bar), provocations
can be salient. Alcohol also reduces self-awareness, which decreases attention
to internal standards against behaving aggressively (Hull, 1981).
According to expectancy theories, alcohol increases aggression because
people expect it to. In our brains, alcohol and aggression are strongly linked
together. Indeed, research shows that subliminally exposing people to alcoholrelated words (e.g., vodka) can make them more aggressive, even though they
do not drink one drop of alcohol (Subra et al., 2010). In many cultures, drinking
occasions are culturally agreed-on time out periods where people are not held
responsible for their actions (MacAndrew & Edgerton, 1969). Those who behave
aggressively when intoxicated sometimes blame the bottle for their aggressive
actions.
Does this research evidence mean that aggression is somehow contained
in alcohol? No. Alcohol increases rather than causes aggressive tendencies.
Factors that normally increase aggression (e.g., frustrations and other
unpleasant events, aggressive cues) have a stronger effect on intoxicated
people than on sober people (Bushman, 1997). In other words, alcohol mainly
seems to increase aggression in combination with other factors. If someone
insults or attacks you, your response will probably be more aggressive if you
are drunk than sober. When there is no provocation, however, the effect of
alcohol on aggression may be negligible. Plenty of people enjoy an occasional
drink without becoming aggressive.
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Reducing Aggression
Most people are greatly concerned about the amount of aggression in society.
Aggression directly interferes with our basic needs of safety and security. Thus,
it is urgent to find ways to reduce aggression. Because there is no single cause
for aggression, it is difficult to design effective treatments. A treatment that
works for one individual may not work for another individual. And some
extremely aggressive people, such as psychopaths, are considered to be
untreatable. Indeed, many people have started to accept the fact that
aggression and violence have become an inevitable, intrinsic part of our society.
This being said, there certainly are things that can be done to reduce aggression
and violence. Before discussing some effective methods for reducing
aggression, two ineffective methods need to be debunked: catharsis and
punishment.
Catharsis
The term catharsis dates back to Aristotle and means to cleanse or purge.
Aristotle taught that viewing tragic plays gave people emotional release from
negative emotions. In Greek tragedy, the heroes didnt just grow old and retire
they are often murdered. Sigmund Freud revived the ancient notion of
catharsis by proposing that people should express their bottled-up anger. Freud
believed if they repressed it, negative emotions would build up inside the
individual and surface as psychological disorders. According tocatharsis theory,
acting aggressively or even viewing aggression purges angry feelings and
aggressive impulses into harmless channels. Unfortunately for catharsis theory,
research shows the opposite often occurs (e.g., Geen & Quanty, 1977).
1243
If venting anger doesnt get rid of it, what does? All emotions, including anger,
consist of bodily states (e.g., arousal) and mental meanings. To get rid of anger,
you can focus on either of those. Anger can be reduced by getting rid of the
arousal state, such as by relaxing, listening to calming music, or counting to 10
before responding. Mental tactics can also reduce anger, such as by reframing
the situation or by distracting oneself and turning ones attention to more
pleasant topics. Incompatible behaviors can also help get rid of anger. For
example, petting a puppy, watching a comedy, kissing your lover, or helping
someone in need, because those acts are incompatible with anger and,
therefore, they make the angry state impossible to sustain (e.g., Baron, 1976).
Viewing the provocative situation from a more distant perspective, such as that
of a fly on the wall, also helps (Mischkowski, Kross, & Bushman,2012).
Punishment
Most cultures assume that punishment is an effective way to deter aggression
and violence. Punishment is defined as inflicting pain or removing pleasure for
a misdeed. Punishment can range in intensity from spanking a child to executing
a convicted killer. Parents use it, organizations use it, and governments use it,
but does it work? Today, aggression researchers have their doubts. Punishment
is most effective when it is: (a) intense, (b) prompt, (c) applied consistently and
with certainty, (d) perceived as justified, and (e) possible to replace the
undesirable punished behavior with a desirable alternative behavior
(Berkowitz, 1993). Even if punishment occurs under these ideal conditions, it
may only suppress aggressive behavior temporarily, and it has several
undesirable long-term consequences. Most important, punishment models the
aggressive behavior it seeks to prevent. Longitudinal studies have shown that
children who are physically punished by their parents at home are more
aggressive outside the home, such as in school (e.g., Lefkowitz, Huesmann, &
Eron, 1978). Because punishment is unpleasant, it can also trigger aggression
1244
just like other unpleasant events.
Successful Interventions
Although specific aggression intervention strategies cannot be discussed in any
detail here, there are two important general points to be made. First, successful
interventions target as many causes of aggression as possible and attempt to
tackle them collectively. Interventions that are narrowly focused at removing a
single cause of aggression, however well conducted, are bound to fail. In general,
external causes are easier to change than internal causes. For example, one
can reduce exposure to violent media or alcohol consumption, and make
unpleasant situations more tolerable (e.g., use air conditioners when it is hot,
reduce crowding in stressful environments such as prisons and psychiatric
wards).
Second, aggression problems are best treated in early development, when
people are still malleable. As was mentioned previously, aggression is very
stable over time, almost as stable as intelligence. If young children display
excessive levels of aggression (often in the form of hitting, biting, or kicking), it
places them at high risk for becoming violent adolescents and even violent
adults. It is much more difficult to alter aggressive behaviors when they are part
of an adult personality, than when they are still in development.
Yoda warned that anger, fear, and aggression are the dark side of the Force.
They are also the dark side of human nature. Fortunately, aggression and
violence are decreasing over time, and this trend should continue. We also know
a lot more now than ever before about what factors increase aggression and
how to treat aggressive behavior problems. When Luke Skywalker was going to
enter the dark cave on Degobah (the fictional Star Wars planet), Yoda said, Your
weapons, you will not need them. Hopefully, there will come a time in the nottoo-distant future when people all over the world will no longer need weapons.
1245
Outside Resources
Book: Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2010). Aggression. In S. T. Fiske, D.
T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed.) (pp.
833-863). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
1. Discuss whether different examples (hypothetical and real) meet the
definition of aggression and the definition of violence.
2. Why do people deny the harmful effects of violent media when the research
evidence linking violent media to aggression is so conclusive?
3. Consider the various causes of aggression described in this chapter and
elsewhere, and discuss whether they can be changed to reduce aggression,
and if so how.
Vocabulary
Aggression
Any behavior intended to harm another person who does not want to be
harmed.
Availability heuristic
The tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the ease with
which relevant instances come to mind.
Catharsis
Greek term that means to cleanse or purge. Applied to aggression, catharsis is
the belief that acting aggressively or even viewing aggression purges angry
feelings and aggressive impulses into harmless channels.
Hostile attribution bias
The tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive.
Hostile expectation bias
The tendency to assume that people will react to potential conflicts with
aggression.
Hostile perception bias
The tendency to perceive social interactions in general as being aggressive.
Punishment
Inflicting pain or removing pleasure for a misdeed. Punishment decreases the
likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.
Relational aggression
Intentionally harming another persons social relationships, feelings of
acceptance, or inclusion within a group.
Violence
Aggression intended to cause extreme physical harm, such as injury or death.
Weapons effect
The increase in aggression that occurs as a result of the mere presence of a
weapon.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Aggression and Violence by Brad J. Bushman is
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under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Helping and Prosocial

Behavior
Dennis L. Poepsel & David A. Schroeder
Truman State University, University of Arkansas
nobaproject.com
Abstract
People often act to benefit other people, and these acts are examples of
prosocial behavior. Such behaviors may come in many guises: helping an
individual in need; sharing personal resources; volunteering time, effort, and
expertise; cooperating with others to achieve some common goals. The focus
of this chapter is on helpingprosocial acts in dyadic situations in which one
person is in need and another provides the necessary assistance to eliminate
the others need. Although people are often in need, help is not always given.
Why not? The decision of whether or not to help is not as simple and
straightforward as it might seem, and many factors need to be considered by
those who might help. In this chapter, we will try to understand how the decision
to help is made by answering the question: Who helps when and why?
Learning Objectives
Learn which situational and social factors affect when a bystander will help
another in need.
Understand which personality and individual difference factors make some

people more likely to help than others.
Discover whether we help others out of a sense of altruistic concern for the
victim, for more self-centered and egoistic motives, or both.
Introduction
Go to YouTube and search for episodes of Primetime: What Would You Do?
You will find video segments in which apparently innocent individuals are
victimized, while onlookers typically fail to intervene. The events are all staged,
but they are very real to the bystanders on the scene. The entertainment offered
is the nature of the bystanders responses, and viewers are outraged when
bystanders fail to intervene. They are convinced that they would have helped.
But would they? Viewers are overly optimistic in their beliefs that they would
play the hero. Helping may occur frequently, but help is not always given to
those in need. So when do people help, and when do they not? All people are
not equally helpfulwho helps? Why would a person help another in the first
place? Many factors go into a persons decision to helpa fact that the viewers
do not fully appreciate. This chapter will answer the question: Who helps when
and why?
When Do People Help?

Social psychologists began trying to answer this question following the
unfortunate murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 (Dovidio, Piliavin, Schroeder, &
Penner, 2006; Penner, Dovidio, Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005). A knife-wielding
assailant attacked Kitty repeatedly as she was returning to her apartment early
one morning. At least 38 people may have been aware of the attack, but no one
came to save her. More recently, in 2010, Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax was stabbed
when he apparently tried to intervene in an argument between a man and
woman. As he lay dying in the street, only one man checked his status, but many
others simply glanced at the scene and continued on their way. (One passerby
did stop to take a cellphone photo, however.) Unfortunately, failures to come
to the aid of someone in need are not unique, as the segments on What Would
You Do? show. Help is not always forthcoming for those who may need it the
nobaproject.com - Helping and Prosocial Behavior
1260
most. Trying to understand why people do not always help became the focus
of bystander intervention research (e.g., Latan & Darley, 1970).
To answer the question regarding when people help, researchers have
focused on
1. how bystanders come to define emergencies,
2. when they decide to take responsibility for helping, and
3. how the costs and benefits of intervening affect their decisions of whether
to help.
Defining the situation: The role of pluralistic ignorance

The decision to help is not a simple yes/no proposition. In fact, a series of
questions must be addressed before help is giveneven in emergencies in
which time may be of the essence. Sometimes help comes quickly; an onlooker
recently jumped from a Philadelphia subway platform to help a stranger who
had fallen on the track. Help was clearly needed and was quickly given. But
some situations are ambiguous, and potential helpers may have to decide
whether a situation is one in which help, in fact, needs to be given.
To define ambiguous situations (including many emergencies), potential
helpers may look to the action of others to decide what should be done. But
those others are looking around too, also trying to figure out what to do.
Everyone is looking, but no one is acting! Relying on others to define the
situation and to then erroneously conclude that no intervention is necessary
when help is actually needed is called pluralistic ignorance (Latan & Darley,
1970). When people use the inactions of others to define their own course of
action, the resulting pluralistic ignorance leads to less help being given.
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Do I have to be the one to help?: Diffusion of responsibility

Simply being with others may facilitate or inhibit whether we get involved in
other ways as well. In situations in which help is needed, the presence or
absence of others may affect whether a bystander will assume personal
responsibility to give the assistance. If the bystander is alone, personal
responsibility to help falls solely on the shoulders of that person. But what if
others are present? Although it might seem that having more potential helpers
around would increase the chances of the victim getting help, the opposite is
often the case. Knowing that someone else could help seems to relieve
bystanders of personal responsibility, so bystanders do not intervene. This
phenomenon is known as diffusion of responsibility (Darley & Latan, 1968).
On the other hand, watch the video of the race officials following the 2013
Boston Marathon after two bombs exploded as runners crossed the finish line.
Despite the presence of many spectators, the yellow-jacketed race officials
immediately rushed to give aid and comfort to the victims of the blast. Each
one no doubt felt a personal responsibility to help by virtue of their official
capacity in the event; fulfilling the obligations of their roles overrode the
influence of the diffusion of responsibility effect.
There is an extensive body of research showing the negative impact of
pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility on helping (Fisher et al.,
2011), in both emergencies and everyday need situations. These studies show
the tremendous importance potential helpers place on the social situation in
which unfortunate events occur, especially when it is not clear what should be
done and who should do it. Other people provide important social information
about how we should act and what our personal obligations might be. But does
knowing a person needs help and accepting responsibility to provide that help
mean the person will get assistance? Not necessarily.
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The costs and rewards of helping

The nature of the help needed plays a crucial role in determining what happens
next. Specifically, potential helpers engage in a costbenefit analysis before
getting involved (Dovidio et al., 2006). If the needed help is of relatively low cost
in terms of time, money, resources, or risk, then help is more likely to be given.
Lending a classmate a pencil is easy; confronting the knife-wielding assailant
who attacked Kitty Genovese is an entirely different matter. As the unfortunate
case of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax demonstrates, intervening may cost the life of
the helper.
The potential rewards of helping someone will also enter into the equation,
perhaps offsetting the cost of helping. Thanks from the recipient of help may
be a sufficient reward. If helpful acts are recognized by others, helpers may
receive social rewards of praise or monetary rewards. Even avoiding feelings of
guilt if one does not help may be considered a benefit. Potential helpers
consider how much helping will cost and compare those costs to the rewards
that might be realized; it is the economics of helping. If costs outweigh the
rewards, helping is less likely. If rewards are greater than cost, helping is more
likely.
Who Helps?
Do you know someone who always seems to be ready, willing, and able to help?
Do you know someone who never helps out? It seems there are personality
and individual differences in the helpfulness of others. To answer the question
of who chooses to help, researchers have examined 1) the role that sex and
gender play in helping, 2) what personality traits are associated with helping,
and 3) the characteristics of the prosocial personality.
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Who are more helpfulmen or women?

In terms of individual differences that might matter, one obvious question is
whether men or women are more likely to help. In one of the What Would You
Do? segments, a man takes a womans purse from the back of her chair and
then leaves the restaurant. Initially, no one responds, but as soon as the woman
asks about her missing purse, a group of men immediately rush out the door
to catch the thief. So, are men more helpful than women? The quick answer is
not necessarily. It all depends on the type of help needed. To be very clear,
the general level of helpfulness may be pretty much equivalent between the
sexes, but men and women help in different ways (Becker & Eagly, 2004; Eagly
& Crowley, 1986). What accounts for these differences?
Two factors help to explain sex and gender differences in helping. The first
is related to the costbenefit analysis process discussed previously. Physical
differences between men and women may come into play (e.g., Wood & Eagly,
2002); the fact that men tend to have greater upper body strength than women
makes the cost of intervening in some situations less for a man. Confronting
a thief is a risky proposition, and some strength may be needed in case the
perpetrator decides to fight. A bigger, stronger bystander is less likely to be
injured and more likely to be successful.
The second explanation is simple socialization. Men and women have
traditionally been raised to play different social roles that prepare them to
respond differently to the needs of others, and people tend to help in ways that
are most consistent with their gender roles. Female gender roles encourage
women to be compassionate, caring, and nurturing; male gender roles
encourage men to take physical risks, to be heroic and chivalrous, and to be
protective of those less powerful. As a consequence of social training and the
gender roles that people have assumed, men may be more likely to jump onto
subway tracks to save a fallen passenger, but women are more likely to give
comfort to a friend with personal problems (Diekman & Eagly, 2000; Eagly &
1264
Crowley, 1986). There may be some specialization in the types of help given by
the two sexes, but it is nice to know that there is someone out thereman or
womanwho is able to give you the help that you need, regardless of what
kind of help it might be.
A trait for being helpful: Agreeableness

Graziano and his colleagues (e.g., Graziano & Tobin, 2009; Graziano, Habishi,
Sheese, & Tobin, 2007) have explored how agreeablenessone of the Big Five
personality dimensions (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1988)plays an important role
in prosocial behavior. Agreeableness is a core trait that includes such
dispositional characteristics as being sympathetic, generous, forgiving, and
helpful, and behavioral tendencies toward harmonious social relations and
likeability. At the conceptual level, a positive relationship between
agreeableness and helping may be expected, and research by Graziano et al.
(2007) has found that those higher on the agreeableness dimension are, in fact,
more likely than those low on agreeableness to help siblings, friends, strangers,
or members of some other group. Agreeable people seem to expect that others
will be similarly cooperative and generous in interpersonal relations, and they,
therefore, act in helpful ways that are likely to elicit positive social interactions.
Searching for the prosocial personality

Rather than focusing on a single trait, Penner and his colleagues (Penner,
Fritzsche, Craiger, & Freifeld, 1995; Penner & Orom, 2010) have taken a
somewhat broader perspective and identified what they call the prosocial
personality orientation. Their research indicates that two major characteristics
are related to the prosocial personality and prosocial behavior. The first
characteristic is called other-oriented empathy: People high on this dimension
have a strong sense of social responsibility, empathize with and feel emotionally
1265
tied to those in need, understand the problems the victim is experiencing, and
have a heightened sense of moral obligation to be helpful. This factor has been
shown to be highly correlated with the trait of agreeableness discussed
previously. The second characteristic, helpfulness, is more behaviorally
oriented. Those high on the helpfulness factor have been helpful in the past,
and because they believe they can be effective with the help they give, they are
more likely to be helpful in the future.
Why Help?
Finally, the question of why a person would help needs to be asked. What
motivation is there for that behavior? Psychologists have suggested that 1)
evolutionary forces may serve to predispose humans to help others, 2) egoistic
concerns may determine if and when help will be given, and 3) selfless, altruistic
motives may also promote helping in some cases.
Evolutionary roots for prosocial behavior

Our evolutionary past may provide keys about why we help (Buss, 2004). Our
very survival was no doubt promoted by the prosocial relations with clan and
family members, and, as a hereditary consequence, we may now be especially
likely to help those closest to usblood-related relatives with whom we share
a genetic heritage. According to evolutionary psychology, we are helpful in ways
that increase the chances that our DNA will be passed along to future
generations (Burnstein, Crandall, & Kitayama, 1994)the goal of the selfish
gene (Dawkins, 1976). Our personal DNA may not always move on, but we can
still be successful in getting some portion of our DNA transmitted if our
daughters, sons, nephews, nieces, and cousins survive to produce offspring.
The favoritism shown for helping our blood relatives is called kin selection
(Hamilton, 1964).
1266
But, we do not restrict our relationships just to our own family members.
We live in groups that include individuals who are unrelated to us, and we often
help them too. Why? Reciprocal altruism (Trivers, 1971) provides the answer.
Because of reciprocal altruism, we are all better off in the long run if we help
one another. If helping someone now increases the chances that you will be
helped later, then your overall chances of survival are increased. There is the
chance that someone will take advantage of your help and not return your
favors. But people seem predisposed to identify those who fail to reciprocate,
and punishments including social exclusion may result (Buss, 2004). Cheaters
will not enjoy the benefit of help from others, reducing the likelihood of the
survival of themselves and their kin.
Evolutionary forces may provide a general inclination for being helpful, but
they may not be as good an explanation for why we help in the here and now.
What factors serve as proximal influences for decisions to help?
Egoistic motivation for helping

Most people would like to think that they help others because they are
concerned about the other persons plight. In truth, the reasons why we help
may be more about ourselves than others: Egoistic or selfish motivations may
make us help. Implicitly, we may ask, Whats in it for me? There are two major
theories that explain what types of reinforcement helpers may be seeking. The
negative state relief model (e.g., Cialdini, Darby, & Vincent, 1973; Cialdini,
Kenrick, & Baumann, 1982) suggests that people sometimes help in order to
make themselves feel better. Whenever we are feeling sad, we can use helping
someone else as a positive mood boost to feel happier. Through socialization,
we have learned that helping can serve as a secondary reinforcement that will
relieve negative moods (Cialdini & Kenrick, 1976).
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The arousal: costreward model provides an additional way to understand

why people help (e.g., Piliavin, Dovidio, Gaertner, & Clark, 1981). This model
focuses on the aversive feelings aroused by seeing another in need. If you have
ever heard an injured puppy yelping in pain, you know that feeling, and you
know that the best way to relieve that feeling is to help and to comfort the
puppy. Similarly, when we see someone who is suffering in some way (e.g.,
injured, homeless, hungry), we vicariously experience a sympathetic arousal
that is unpleasant, and we are motivated to eliminate that aversive state. One
way to do that is to help the person in need. By eliminating the victims pain,
we eliminate our own aversive arousal. Helping is an effective way to alleviate
our own discomfort.
As an egoistic model, the arousal: costreward model explicitly includes the
cost/reward considerations that come into play. Potential helpers will find ways
to cope with the aversive arousal that will minimize their costsmaybe by
means other than direct involvement. For example, the costs of directly
confronting a knife-wielding assailant might stop a bystander from getting
involved, but the cost of some indirect help (e.g., calling the police) may be
acceptable. In either case, the victims need is addressed. Unfortunately, if the
costs of helping are too high, bystanders may reinterpret the situation to justify
not helping at all. We now know that the attack of Kitty Genovese was a
murderous assault, but it may have been misperceived as a lovers spat by
someone who just wanted to go back to sleep. For some, fleeing the situation
causing their distress may do the trick (Piliavin et al., 1981).
The egoistically based negative state relief model and the arousal: cost
reward model see the primary motivation for helping as being the helpers own
outcome. Recognize that the victims outcome is of relatively little concern to
the helperbenefits to the victim are incidental byproducts of the exchange
(Dovidio et al., 2006). The victim may be helped, but the helpers real motivation
according to these two explanations is egoistic: Helpers help to the extent that
it makes them feel better.
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Altruistic help
Although many researchers believe that egoism is the only motivation for
helping, others suggest that altruismhelping that has as its ultimate goal the
improvement of anothers welfaremay also be a motivation for helping under
the right circumstances. Batson (2011) has offered the empathyaltruism
model to explain altruistically motivated helping for which the helper expects
no benefits. According to this model, the key for altruism is empathizing with
the victim, that is, putting oneself in the shoes of the victim and imagining how
the victim must feel. When taking this perspective and having empathic
concern, potential helpers become primarily interested in increasing the wellbeing of the victim, even if the helper must incur some costs that might
otherwise be easily avoided. The empathyaltruism model does not dismiss
egoistic motivations; helpers not empathizing with a victim may experience
personal distress and have an egoistic motivation, not unlike the feelings and
motivations explained by the arousal: costreward model. Because egoistically
motivated individuals are primarily concerned with their own costbenefit
outcomes, they are less likely to help if they think they can escape the situation
with no costs to themselves. In contrast, altruistically motivated helpers are
willing to accept the cost of helping to benefit a person with whom they have
empathizedthis self-sacrificial approach to helping is the hallmark of
altruism (Batson, 2011).
Although there is still some controversy about whether people can ever act
for purely altruistic motives, it is important to recognize that, while helpers may
derive some personal rewards by helping another, the help that has been given
is also benefitting someone who was in need. The residents who offered food,
blankets, and shelter to stranded runners who were unable to get back to their
hotel rooms because of the Boston Marathon bombing undoubtedly received
positive rewards because of the help they gave, but those stranded runners
who were helped got what they needed badly as well. In fact, it is quite
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remarkable how the fates of people who have never met can be so intertwined
and complementary. Your benefit is mine; and mine is yours (Dovidio et al.,
2006, p. 143).
Conclusion
We started this chapter by asking the question, Who helps when and why? As
we have shown, the question of when help will be given is not quite as simple
as the viewers of What Would You Do? believe. The power of the situation that
operates on potential helpers in real time is not fully considered. What might
appear to be a split-second decision to help is actually the result of consideration
of multiple situational factors (e.g., the helpers interpretation of the situation,
the presence and ability of others to provide the help, the results of a cost
benefit analysis) (Dovidio et al., 2006). We have found that men and women
tend to help in different waysmen are more impulsive and physically active,
while women are more nurturing and supportive. Personality characteristics
such as agreeableness and the prosocial personality orientation also affect
peoples likelihood of giving assistance to others. And, why would people help
in the first place? In addition to evolutionary forces (e.g., kin selection, reciprocal
altruism), there is extensive evidence to show that helping and prosocial acts
may be motivated by selfish, egoistic desires; by selfless, altruistic goals; or by
some combination of egoistic and altruistic motives. (For a fuller consideration
of the field of prosocial behavior, we refer you to Dovidio et al. [2006].)
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Outside Resources
Book: Batson, C.D. (2009). Altruism in humans. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
Book: Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., Schroeder, D. A., & Penner, L. A. (2006). The
social psychology of prosocial behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Book: Mikuliner, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2010). Prosocial motives, emotions, and
behavior: The better angels of our nature. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Book: Schroeder, D. A. & Graziano, W. G. (forthcoming). The Oxford handbook

of prosocial behavior. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Institution: Center for Generosity, University of Notre Dame, 936 Flanner

Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556.
http://www.generosityresearch.nd.edu
Institution: The Greater Good Science Center, University of California,

Berkeley.
http://www.greatergood.berkeley.edu
Video: Episodes (individual) of Primetime: What Would You Do?

http://www.YouTube.com
Video: Episodes of Primetime: What Would You Do? that often include some
commentary from experts in the field may be available at
http://www.abc.com
1. Pluralistic ignorance suggests that inactions by other observers of an
emergency will decrease the likelihood that help will be given. What do you
think will happen if even one other observer begins to offer assistance to a
victim?
2. In addition to those mentioned in the chapter, what other costs and rewards
might affect a potential helpers decision of whether to help? Receiving help
to solve some problem is an obvious benefit for someone in need; are there
any costs that a person might have to bear as a result of receiving help from
someone?
3. What are the characteristics possessed by your friends who are most
helpful? By your friends who are least helpful? What has made your helpful
friends and your unhelpful friends so different? What kinds of help have
they given to you, and what kind of help have you given to them? Are you
a helpful person?
4. Do you think that sex and gender differences in the frequency of helping
and the kinds of helping have changed over time? Why? Do you think that
we might expect more changes in the future?
5. What do you think is the primary motive for helping behavior: egoism or
altruism? Are there any professions in which people are being pure
altruists, or are some egoistic motivations always playing a role?
6. There are other prosocial behaviors in addition to the kind of helping
discussed here. People volunteer to serve many different causes and
organizations. People come together to cooperate with one another to
achieve goals that no one individual could reach alone. How do you think
the factors that affect helping might affect prosocial actions such as
volunteering and cooperating? Do you think that there might be other
factors that make people more or less likely to volunteer their time and
energy or to cooperate in a group?
Vocabulary
Agreeableness
A core personality trait that includes such dispositional characteristics as being
sympathetic, generous, forgiving, and helpful, and behavioral tendencies
toward harmonious social relations and likeability.
Altruism
A motivation for helping that has the improvement of anothers welfare as its
ultimate goal, with no expectation of any benefits for the helper.
Arousal: costreward model

An egoistic theory proposed by Piliavin et al. (1981) that claims that seeing a
person in need leads to the arousal of unpleasant feelings, and observers are
motivated to eliminate that aversive state, often by helping the victim. A cost
reward analysis may lead observers to react in ways other than offering direct
assistance, including indirect help, reinterpretation of the situation, or fleeing
the scene.
Bystander intervention
The phenomenon whereby people intervene to help others in need even if the
other is a complete stranger and the intervention puts the helper at risk.
Costbenefit analysis
A decision-making process that compares the cost of an action or thing against
the expected benefit to help determine the best course of action.
Diffusion of responsibility
When deciding whether to help a person in need, knowing that there are others
who could also provide assistance relieves bystanders of some measure of
personal responsibility, reducing the likelihood that bystanders will intervene.
Egoism
A motivation for helping that has the improvement of the helpers own
circumstances as its primary goal.
Empathic concern
According to Batsons empathyaltruism hypothesis, observers who empathize
with a person in need (that is, put themselves in the shoes of the victim and
imagine how that person feels) will experience empathic concern and have an
altruistic motivation for helping.
Empathyaltruism model
An altruistic theory proposed by Batson (2011) that claims that people who put
themselves in the shoes of a victim and imagining how the victim feel will
experience empathic concern that evokes an altruistic motivation for helping.
Helpfulness
A component of the prosocial personality orientation; describes individuals who
have been helpful in the past and, because they believe they can be effective
with the help they give, are more likely to be helpful in the future.
Helping
Prosocial acts that typically involve situations in which one person is in need
and another provides the necessary assistance to eliminate the others need.
Kin selection
According to evolutionary psychology, the favoritism shown for helping our
blood relatives, with the goals of increasing the likelihood that some portion of
our DNA will be passed on to future generations.
Negative state relief model
An egoistic theory proposed by Cialdini et al. (1982) that claims that people have
learned through socialization that helping can serve as a secondary
reinforcement that will relieve negative moods such as sadness.
Other-oriented empathy
A component of the prosocial personality orientation; describes individuals who
have a strong sense of social responsibility, empathize with and feel emotionally
tied to those in need, understand the problems the victim is experiencing, and
have a heightened sense of moral obligations to be helpful.
Personal distress
According to Batsons empathyaltruism hypothesis, observers who take a
detached view of a person in need will experience feelings of being worried
and upset and will have an egoistic motivation for helping to relieve that
distress.
Pluralistic ignorance
Relying on the actions of others to define an ambiguous need situation and to
then erroneously conclude that no help or intervention is necessary.
Prosocial behavior
Social behavior that benefits another person.
Prosocial personality orientation
A measure of individual differences that identifies two sets of personality
characteristics (other-oriented empathy, helpfulness) that are highly correlated
with prosocial behavior.
Reciprocal altruism
According to evolutionary psychology, a genetic predisposition for people to
help those who have previously helped them.
Reference List
Batson, C. D. (2011). Altruism in humans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Becker, S. W., & Eagly, A. H. (2004). The heroism of women and men. American
Burnstein, E., Crandall, C., & Kitayama, S. (1994). Some neo-Darwinian decision
rules for altruism: Weighing cues for inclusive fitness as a function of the
biological importance of the decision. Journal of Personality and Social
Buss, D. M. (2004). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind.
Boston, MA: Allyn Bacon.
Cialdini, R. B., Darby, B. K. & Vincent, J. E. (1973). Transgression and altruism: A
case for hedonism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 9, 502516.
Cialdini, R. B., Kenrick, D. T., & Baumann, D. J. (1982). Effects of mood on prosocial
behavior in children and adults. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), The development of
prosocial behavior (pp. 339359). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Cialdini, R. B., & Kenrick, D. T. (1976). Altruism as hedonism: A social
developmental perspective on the relationship of negative mood state and
helping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 907914.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1998). Trait theories in personality. In D. F. Barone,
M. Hersen, & V. B. Van Hasselt (Eds.), Advanced Personality (pp. 103121).
New York, NY: Plenum.
Darley, J. M. & Latan, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies:

Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8,
377383.
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Diekman, A. B., & Eagly, A. H. (2000). Stereotypes as dynamic structures: Women
and men of the past, present, and future. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 26, 11711188.
Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., Schroeder, D. A., & Penner, L. A. (2006). The social
psychology of prosocial behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Eagly, A. H., & Crowley, M. (1986). Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic
review of the social psychological literature. Psychological Review, 66, 183
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Fisher, P., Krueger, J. I., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincie, C., Kastenmiller, A., Frey, D.,
Henne, M., Wicher, M., & Kainbacher, M. (2011). The bystander-effect: A
meta-analytic review of bystander intervention in dangerous and nondangerous emergencies. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 517537.
Graziano, W. G., Habashi, M. M., Sheese, B. E., & Tobin, R. M. (2007).
Agreeableness, empathy, and helping: A person x situation perspective.
Graziano, W. G., & Tobin, R. (2009). Agreeableness. In M. R. Leary & R. H. Hoyle
(Eds.), Handbook of Individual Differences in Social Behavior. New York, NY:
Guilford Press.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetic evolution of social behavior. Journal of

Theoretical Biology, 7, 152.
Latan, B., & Darley, J. M. (1970). The unresponsive bystander: Why doesnt he
help? New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., & Schroeder, D. A. (2005). Prosocial
behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 365
392.
Penner, L. A., Fritzsche, B. A., Craiger, J. P., & Freifeld, T. R. (1995). Measuring the
prosocial personality. In J. Butcher & C.D. Spielberger (Eds.), Advances in
personality assessment (Vol. 10, pp. 147163). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
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Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior: The better angels of our nature
(pp. 5572). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Piliavin, J. A., Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Clark, R. D., III (1981). Emergency
intervention. New York, NY: Academic Press.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Helping and Prosocial Behavior by Dennis L.
Poepsel and David A. Schroeder is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Positive Relationships
Nathaniel M. Lambert
Brigham Young University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Most research in the realm of relationships has examined that which can go
wrong in relationships (e.g., conflict, infidelity, intimate partner violence). I
summarize much of what has been examined about what goes right in a
relationship and call these positive relationship deposits. Some research
indicates that relationships need five positive interactions for every negative
interaction. Active-constructive responding, gratitude, forgiveness, and time
spent together are some sources of positive deposits in ones relational bank
account. These kinds of deposits can reduce the negative effects of conflict on
marriage and strengthen relationships.
Learning Objectives
Understand some of the challenges that plague close relationships today.
Become familiar with the concept of positive emotional deposits.
Review some of the research that is relevant to positive emotional deposits.
Describe several ways people make positive emotional deposits.
Introduction
The status of close relationships in America can sometimes look a bit grim.
More than half of marriages now end in divorce in the United States (Pinsof,
2002). Infidelity is the leading cause of divorce (Priviti & Amato, 2004) and is on
the rise across all age groups (Allen et al., 2008). Cybersex has likely contributed
to the increased rates of infidelity, with some 65% of those who look for sex
online having intercourse with their Internet partner offline as well. Research
on intimate partner violence indicates that it occurs at alarmingly high rates,
with over one-fifth of couples reporting at least one episode of violence over
the course of a year (Schafer, Caetano, & Clark, 1998). These and other issues
that arise in relationships (e.g., substance abuse, conflict) represent significant
obstacles to close relationships. With so many problems that plague
relationships, how can a positive relationship be cultivated? Is there some magic
bullet or ratio? Yes, kind of.
The Magic Formula

Of course, no research is perfect, and there really is no panacea that will cure
any relationship. However, we do have some research that suggests that longterm, stable marriages have been shown to display a particular ratio between
positive and negative interactions. That ratio is not 1:1, in fact, 1:1 is
approximately the ratio of couples who were heading toward divorce. Thus, in
a couple where a spouse gives one compliment for each criticism, the likely
outcome is divorce. Happier couples have five positive interactions for every
one negative interaction (Gottman, 1994).
What can you do to increase the ratio of positive interactions on a regular
basis?through positive relationship deposits. Naturally, making positive
relationship deposits will boost your overall positive emotionsso by making
positive relationships a priority in your life you can boost your positive emotions,
nobaproject.com - Positive Relationships
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becoming a flourishing individual.
Positive Relationship Deposits

In Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey (1989) compared human
relationships to actual bank accountssuggesting that every day we make
deposits or withdrawals from our relationship accounts with each person in
our lives. He recommended that to keep an overall positive balance, we need
to make regular positive deposits. This will ultimately help buffer the negatives
that are bound to occur in relationships. Keeping this metaphor of emotional
capital in mind could be beneficial for promoting the well-being of the
relationships in ones life.
Some research suggests that people, on average, have more positive than
negative experiences
(Gable & Haidt, 2005). Thus, there are far more
opportunities for deposits than for withdrawals. Conversely, even though there
may be fewer negatives, Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, and Vohs (2001)
argue quite persuasively that bad events overpower good events in ones life,
which suggests that the negative withdrawals are more salient and more
impactful. This further accentuates the need to ensure that we have a healthy
store of positive deposits that can help to counteract these more impactful
account withdrawals. Positive deposits that accumulate over time should
provide a buffer against the withdrawals that happen in every relationship. In
other words, the inevitable occasional conflict is not nearly so bad for the
relationship when it occurs in a partnership that is otherwise highly positive.
What opportunities does relationships science suggest are effective
opportunities each day to make positive relationship deposits?
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Common Opportunities for Daily Positive Deposits

An individuals general sentiment of his or her partner is dependent on ongoing
interactions, and these interactions provide many opportunities for deposits
or withdrawals. To illustrate how much daily interaction can give opportunities
to make deposits in relationships, I will describe research that has been done
on capitalization and active-constructive responding, gratitude, forgiveness,
and spending time together in meaningful ways. Although there are several
other ways by which positive relationship deposits can be made, these four
have received quite a bit of attention by researchers. Then I will discuss some
evidence on how an accumulation of such daily relationship deposits seems to
provide a safeguard against the impact of conflict.
Building Intimacy Through Capitalization and ActiveConstructive Responding

Intimacy has been defined as a close and familiar bond with another person.
Intimacy has been positively related with satisfaction in marriage (Patrick, Sells,
Giordano & Tollerud, 2007) and well-being in general (e.g., Waltz & Badura, 1987;
Prager & Buhrmester, 1998). On the other hand, lacking marital intimacy is
related to higher severity of depression (Waring & Patton, 1984). Thus, achieving
intimacy with ones partner is essential for a happy marriage and happiness in
general and is something worth seeking.
Given that 60% to 80% of the time, people disclose their most positive daily
experiences with their partner (Gable et al., 2004), this becomes a regular
opportunity for intimacy building. When we disclose certain private things about
ourselves, we increase the potential intimacy that we can have with another
person, however, we also make ourselves vulnerable to getting hurt by the other
person. What if they do not like what I have disclosed or react negatively? It can
1289
be a double-edged sword. Disclosing positive news from ones day is a great

opportunity for a daily deposit if the response from the other person is positive.
What constitutes a positive response?
To achieve intimacy we must respond positively to remarks our partner
makes. When a person responds enthusiastically to a partners good news, this
fosters higher levels of intimacy (Gable, Reis, Impett, & Asher, 2004). Thus,
responding in a positive manner to a relationship partners good news provides
frequent opportunities to make deposits in the relationship bank account. In
fact, most people are presented the chance to make this kind of relationship
deposit almost every day. Most research has focused on support (partners
responses to negative events), however, one study found that responses to
positive events tend to be better predictors of relationship well-being than
responses to negative events (Gable, Gonzaga, & Strachman, 2006).
When one person seeks out another person with the intent to share positive
news, it has been called capitalization(Gable et al., 2004). The best, supportive
response to someone who shares good news has been termed activeconstructive and is characterized by enthusiastic support. These activeconstructive responses are positively associated with trust, satisfaction,
commitment, and intimacy. On the other hand, when the listener points out
something negative about what is said, it is called active-destructive responding.
Ignoring what is said is termed passive-destructive, and understating support
is called passive-constructive. All of these types of responses (see Figure 1) have
been related to adverse relationship outcomes (Gable et al., 2004).
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Figure 1. Types of Responding (figure used with permission from thecoachinghouse.ca)
If partners listen and are enthusiastic about the good news of the other,
they build a stronger relationship. If they ignore the good news, change the
subject, devalue the good news, or refocus the good news to be about
themselves, they may make a withdrawal from the account. Being aware of this
research and findings can help individuals to focus on better providing helpful
responses to those they care about.
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Gratitude
Relationship researchers report that expressing gratitude on a regular basis is
an important means by which positive deposits may be made into relationship
bank accounts. In a recent study, participants were randomly assigned to write
about daily events, express gratitude to a friend, discuss a positive memory
with a friend, or think grateful thoughts about a friend twice a week for three
weeks. At the conclusion of the three weeks, those who were randomly assigned
to express gratitude to their friend reported higher positive regard for their
friend and more comfort voicing relationship concerns than did those in the
two control conditions (Lambert & Fincham, 2011). Also, those who expressed
gratitude to a close relationship partner reported greater perceived communal
strength (e.g., caring, willingness to sacrifice) than participants in all control
conditions (Lambert, Clark, Durtschi, Fincham, & Graham, 2010). Similarly,
Algoe, Fredrickson, and Gable (2013) found that benefactors positive
perceptions of beneficiaries were increased when gratitude was expressed for
the benefit, and these perceptions enhanced relationship quality. These studies
suggest that expressing gratitude to someone you are close to is an important
way of making positive relationship deposits.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is something else you can do regularly to aid relationship
satisfaction (e.g., Fincham, 2000; Paleari, Regalia, & Fincham, 2003) and
commitment (e.g., Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, & Hannon, 2002; Karremans &
Van Lange, 2008). Unresolved conflict can put couples at risk of developing the
negative cycle of interaction that causes further harm to relationships. For
instance, one study found that lack of forgiveness is linked to ineffective conflict
resolution (Fincham, Beach, & Davila, 2004). For instance, if Cindy cannot forgive
Joe, Cindy will struggle to effectively resolve other disagreements in their
1292
relationship. Yet, those who do forgive report much better conflict resolution
a year later (Fincham, Beach, & Davila, 2007). It appears that forgiveness can
be an important way of building emotional capital in the relationship. Not
forgiving the people in your life can block positive deposits to the relationship
bank account.
Spending Time in Meaningful Ways

Some suggest that the best way to spell love is T-I-M-E. In our fast-paced society,
many relationships are time deprived. In the beginning phases of a relationship,
this rarely seems to be an issue given the novelty and excitement of the
relationship, however, discovering new things about ones partner declines and
couples can slump into relationship boredom. The self-expansion model (Aron
& Aron, 1996) suggests that people naturally seek to expand their capacity and
that intimate relationships are an important way by which they accomplish selfexpansion. They have found that couples who engaged in more challenging
and novel activities felt more satisfied with their relationship immediately
afterward than control couples (Aron et al., 2000). The takeaway message here
is that simply watching TV with ones romantic partner will not make nearly the
magnitude of a deposit in a relational bank account as would a more engaging
or challenging joint activity.
Accumulated Positive Deposits and Conflict Management

When there is a positive balance of relationship deposits this can help the overall
relationship in times of conflict. For instance, some research indicates that a
husbands level of enthusiasm in everyday marital interactions was related to
a wifes affection in the midst of conflict (Driver & Gottman, 2004), showing that
being pleasant and making deposits can change the nature of conflict. Also,
Gottman and Levinson (1992) found that couples rated as having more pleasant
1293
interactions (compared with couples with less pleasant interactions) reported

marital problems as less severe, higher marital satisfaction, better physical
health, and less risk for divorce. Finally, Janicki, Kamarck, Shiffman, and
Gwaltney (2006) showed that the intensity of conflict with a spouse predicted
marital satisfaction unless there was a record of positive partner interactions,
in which case the conflict did not matter as much. Again, it seems as though
having a positive balance through prior positive deposits helps to keep
relationships strong even in the midst of conflict.
Relationships today are riddled with problems including divorce, infidelity,
intimate partner violence, and chronic conflict. If you want to avoid some of
these common pitfalls of relationships , if you want to build a good relationship
with a partner or with your friends, it is crucial to make daily positive deposits
in your relationship bank accounts. Doing so will help you enjoy each other
more and also help you weather the inevitable conflicts that pop up over time.
Some of the ways that have been most explored by researchers as a way to
build your positive relationship bank account are through building intimacy by
active constructive responding, expressing gratitude to the others, forgiving,
and spending time in engaging joint activities. Although these are not the only
ways that you can make positive deposits in ones relationship bank accounts,
they are some of the best examined. Consider how you might do more to make
positive relationship deposits through these or other means for the survival
and improvement of your relationships.
1294
1. What are some of the main challenges that face relationships today?
2. How would you describe the concept of an emotional bank account?
3. What are some ways people can make deposits to their relationship bank
accounts?
4. What do you think are the most effective ways for making positive
relationship deposits?
5. What are some of the most powerful relationship deposits that others have
made into your relationship bank account?
6. What would you consider to be some challenging or engaging activities that
you would consider doing more of with a close relationship partner?
7. Are there relationships of yours that have gotten into a negative spiral and
could profit from positive relationship deposits?
Vocabulary
Active-constructive responding
Demonstrating sincere interest and enthusiasm for the good news of another
person.
Capitalization
Seeking out someone else with whom to share your good news.
Relationship bank account
An account you hold with every person in which a positive deposit or a negative
withdrawal can be made during every interaction you have with the person.
Self-expansion model
Seeking to increase ones capacity often through an intimate relationship.
Reference List
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Fincham, F. D. (2000). The kiss of the porcupines: From attributing responsibility
to forgiving. Personal Relationships, 7,123.
Fincham, F. D., Beach, S. R. H., & Davila, J. (2007). Longitudinal relations between
forgiveness and conflict resolution in marriage. Journal of Family
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betrayal in close relationships: Does commitment promote forgiveness?
Gable, S., Reis, H., Impett, E., & Asher, E. (2004). What do you do when things
go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive
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things go right? Social support for positive events. Journal of Personality
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yours last. New York, NY: Fireside.
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dissolution: Behavior, physiology and health. Journal of Personality and
Janicki, D., Kamarck, T., Shiffman, S., & Gwaltney, C. (2006). Application of
ecological momentary assessment to the study of marital adjustment and
social interactions during daily life. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 168
172.
Karremans, J. C., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2008). Forgiveness in interpersonal
relationships: Its malleability and powerful consequences. European Review
of Social Psychology, 19, 202241.
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(2010). Benefits of expressing gratitude: Expressing gratitude to a partner
changes ones view of the relationship. Psychological Science, 21, 574580.
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to more relationship maintenance behavior. Emotion, 11, 5260.
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parents: An empirical model. Parenting: Science and Practice, 3, 155174.
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differentiation, and personality variables as predictors of marital
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in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 1702-1704.

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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Positive Relationships by Nathaniel M. Lambert

Attraction and Beauty

Robert G. Franklin & Leslie Zebrowitz
Brandeis University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
More attractive people elicit more positive first impressions. This effect is called
the attractiveness halo, and it is shown when judging those with more attractive
faces, bodies, or voices. Moreover, it yields significant social outcomes, including
advantages to attractive people in domains as far-reaching as romance,
friendships, family relations, education, work, and criminal justice. Physical
qualities that increase attractiveness include youthfulness, symmetry,
averageness, masculinity in men, and femininity in women. Positive expressions
and behaviors also raise evaluations of a persons attractiveness. Cultural,
cognitive, evolutionary, and overgeneralization explanations have been offered
to explain why we find certain people attractive. Whereas the evolutionary
explanation predicts that the impressions associated with the halo effect will
be accurate, the other explanations do not. Although the research evidence
does show some accuracy, it is too weak to satisfactorily account for the positive
responses shown to more attractive people.
Learning Objectives
Learn the
advantages of attractiveness in social situations.
Know what
features are associated with facial, body, and vocal
attractiveness.
Understand
the universality and cultural variation in attractiveness.
Learn about
the mechanisms proposed to explain positive responses to
attractiveness.
We are ambivalent about attractiveness. We are enjoined not to judge a book

by its cover, and told that beauty is only skin deep. Just as these warnings
indicate, our natural tendency is to judge people by their appearance and to
prefer those who are beautiful. The attractiveness of peoples faces, as well as
their bodies and voices, not only influences our choice of romantic partners,
but also our impressions of peoples traits and important social outcomes in
areas that have nothing to do with romance. This chapter reviews these effects
of attractiveness and examines what physical qualities increase attractiveness
and why.
The Advantages of Attractiveness

Attractiveness is an asset. Although it may be no surprise that attractiveness is
important in romantic settings, its benefits are found in many other social
domains. More attractive people are perceived more positively on a wide variety
of traits, being seen as more intelligent, healthy, trustworthy, and sociable.
Although facial attractiveness has received the most research attention (Eagly,
Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991), people higher in body or vocal
attractiveness also create more positive impressions (Riggio, Widaman, Tucker,
& Salinas, 1991; Zuckerman & Driver, 1989). This advantage is termed the
attractiveness halo effect, and it is widespread. Not only are attractive adults
judged more positively than their less attractive peers, but even attractive
babies are viewed more positively by their own parents, and strangers consider
them more healthy, affectionate, attached to mother, cheerful, responsive,
likeable, and smart (Langlois et al., 2000). Teachers not only like attractive
children better but also perceive them as less likely to misbehave, more
intelligent, and even more likely to get advanced degrees. More positive
impressions of those judged facially attractive are shown across many cultures,
even within an isolated indigenous tribe in the Bolivian rainforest (Zebrowitz et
al., 2012).
nobaproject.com - Attraction and Beauty
1305
Attractiveness not only elicits positive trait impressions, but it also provides
advantages in a wide variety of social situations. In a classic study, attractiveness,
rather than measures of personality or intelligence, predicted whether
individuals randomly paired on a blind date wanted to contact their partner
again (Walster, Aronson, Abrahams, & Rottman, 1966). Although attractiveness
has a greater influence on mens romantic preferences than womens (Feingold,
1990), it has significant effects for both sexes. Attractive men and women
become sexually active earlier than their less attractive peers. Also,
attractiveness in men is positively related to the number of short-term, but not
long-term, sexual partners, whereas the reverse is true for women (Rhodes,
Simmons, & Peters, 2005). These results suggest that attractiveness in both
sexes is associated with greater reproductive success, since success for men
depends more on short-term mating opportunitiesmore mates increases the
probability of offspringand success for women depends more on long-term
mating opportunitiesa committed mate increases the probability of offspring
survival. Of course, not everyone can win the most attractive mate, and research
shows a matching effect. More attractive people expect to date individuals
higher in attractiveness than do unattractive people (Montoya, 2008), and actual
romantic couples are similar in attractiveness (Feingold, 1988). The appeal of
attractive people extends to platonic friendships. More attractive people are
more popular with their peers, and this is shown even in early childhood
(Langlois et al., 2000).
1306
The attractiveness halo is also found in situations where one would not
expect it to make such a difference. For example, research has shown that
strangers are more likely to help an attractive than an unattractive person by
mailing a lost letter containing a graduate school application with an attached
photograph (Benson, Karabenick, & Lerner, 1976). More attractive job
applicants are preferred in hiring decisions for a variety of jobs, and attractive
people receive higher salaries (Dipboye, Arvey, & Terpstra, 1977; Hamermesh
& Biddle, 1994; Hosoda, Stone-Romero, & Coats, 2003). Facial attractiveness
also affects political and judicial outcomes. More attractive congressional
candidates are more likely to be elected, and more attractive defendants
convicted of crimes receive lighter sentences (Stewart, 1980; Verhulst, Lodge,
& Lavine, 2010). Body attractiveness also contributes to social outcomes. A
smaller percentage of overweight than normal-weight college applicants are
admitted despite similar high school records (Canning & Mayer, 1966), parents
are less likely to pay for the education of their heavier weight children (Crandall,
1991), and overweight people are less highly recommended for jobs despite
equal qualifications (Larkin & Pines, 1979). Voice qualities also have social
outcomes. College undergraduates express a greater desire to affiliate with
other students who have more attractive voices (Miyake & Zuckerman, 1993),
and politicians with more attractive voices are more likely to win elections
(Gregory & Gallagher, 2002; Tigue, Borak, OConnor, Schandl, & Feinberg, 2012).
These are but a few of the research findings clearly demonstrating that we are
unable to adhere to the conventional wisdom not to judge a book by its cover.
What Makes a Person Attractive?

Most research investigating what makes a person attractive has focused on
sexual attraction. However, attraction is a multifaceted phenomenon. We are
attracted to infants (nurturant attraction), to friends (communal attraction), and
to leaders (respectful attraction). Although some facial qualities may be
1307
universally attractive, others depend on the individual being judged as well as

the eye of the beholder. For example, babyish facial qualities are essential to
the facial attractiveness of infants, but detract from the charisma of male
leaders (Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald, 1979; Sternglanz, Gray, & Murakami, 1977;
Mueller & Mazur, 1996), and the sexual attractiveness of particular facial
qualities depends on whether the viewer is evaluating someone as a short-term
or a long-term mate (Little, Jones, Penton-Voak, Burt, & Perrett, 2002). The fact
that attractiveness is multifaceted is highlighted in research suggesting that
attraction is a dual process, combining sexual and aesthetic preferences. More
specifically, womens overall ratings of mens attractiveness are explained both
by their ratings of how appealing a man is for a sexual situation, such as a
potential date, and also by their ratings of how appealing he is for a nonsexual
situation, such as a potential lab partner (Franklin & Adams, 2009). The dual
process is further revealed in the finding that different brain regions are involved
in judging sexual versus nonsexual attractiveness (Franklin & Adams, 2010).
More attractive facial features include youthfulness, unblemished skin,

symmetry, a facial configuration that is close to the population average, and
femininity in women or masculinity in men, with smaller chins, higher eyebrows,
and smaller noses being some of the features that are more feminine/less
masculine. Similarly, more feminine, higher-pitched voices are more attractive
1308
in women and more masculine, lower-pitched voices are more attractive in men
(Collins, 2000; Puts, Barndt, Welling, Dawood, & Burriss, 2011). In the case of
bodies, features that increase attractiveness include a more sex-typical waistto-hip rationarrower waist than hips for women but not for menas well as
a physique that is not emaciated or grossly obese. Negative reactions to obesity
are present from a young age. For example, a classic study found that when
children were asked to rank-order their preferences for children with various
disabilities who were depicted in pictures, the overweight child was ranked the
lowest, even lower than a child who was missing a hand, one who was seated
in a wheelchair, and one with a facial scar (Richardson, Goodman, Hastorf, &
Dornbusch, 1961).
Although there are many physical qualities that influence attractiveness, no
single quality seems to be a necessary or sufficient condition for high
attractiveness. A person with a perfectly symmetrical face may not be attractive
if the eyes are too close together or too far apart. One can also imagine a woman
with beautiful skin or a man with a masculine facial features who is not attractive.
Even a person with a perfectly average face may not be attractive if the face is
the average of a population of 90-year-olds. These examples suggest that a
combination of features are required for high attractiveness. In the case of
mens attraction to women, a desirable combination appears to include
perceived youthfulness, sexual maturity, and approachability (Cunningham,
1986). In contrast, a single quality, like extreme distance from the average face,
is sufficient for low attractiveness. Although certain physical qualities are
generally viewed as more attractive, anatomy is not destiny. Attractiveness is
positively related to smiling and facial expressivity (Riggio & Friedman, 1986),
and there also is some truth to the maxim pretty is as pretty does. Research
has shown that students are more likely to judge an instructors physical
appearance as appealing when his behavior is warm and friendly than when it
is cold and distant (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977), and people rate a woman as more
physically attractive when they have a favorable description of her personality
1309
(Gross & Crofton, 1977).
Why Are Certain People Attractive?

Cultural, cognitive, evolutionary, and overgeneralization explanations have
been offered to account for why certain people are deemed attractive. Early
explanations suggested that attractiveness was based on what a culture
preferred. This is supported by the many variations in ornamentation, jewelry,
and body modification that different cultures use to convey attractiveness.
Figure 1. Long-necked woman in Myanmar.
For example, the long neck on the woman shown in Figure 1 is unlikely to
be judged attractive by Westerners. Yet, long necks have been preferred in a
traditional Myanmar tribe, because they are thought to resemble a mythological
dragon who spawned them. Despite cultural variations like this, research has
provided strong evidence against the claim that attractiveness is only due to
social learning. Indeed, young infants prefer to look at faces that adults have
1310
judged to be highly attractive rather than those judged to be less attractive

(Kramer, Zebrowitz, San Giovanni, & Sherak, 1995; Langlois et al., 1987).
Moreover, 12-month-olds are less likely to smile at or play with a stranger who
is wearing a lifelike mask judged unattractive by adults than a mask judged as
attractive (Langlois, Roggman, & Rieser-Danner, 1990). In addition, people
across many cultures, including individuals in the Amazon rainforest who are
isolated from Western culture, view the same faces as attractive (Cunningham,
Roberts, Barbee, Druen, & Wu, 1995; Zebrowitz et al. 2012). On the other hand,
there are more cultural variations in body attractiveness. In particular, whereas
people from diverse cultures agree that very thin, emaciated-looking bodies
are unattractive, they differ more in their appraisal of heavier bodies. Larger
bodies are viewed more negatively in Western European cultures than other
countries, especially those with lower socioeconomic statuses (Swami et al.,
2010). There also is evidence that African Americans judge overweight women
less harshly than do European Americans (Hebl & Heatherton, 1997).
Although cultural learning makes some contribution to who we find
attractive, the universal elements of attractiveness require a culturally universal
explanation. One suggestion is that attractiveness is a by-product of a more
general cognitive mechanism that leads us to recognize and prefer familiar
stimuli. People prefer category members that are closer to a category
prototype, or the average member of the category, over those that are at the
extremes of a category. Thus, people find average stimuli more attractive
whether they are human faces, cars, or animals (Halberstadt, 2006). Indeed, a
face morph that is the average of many individuals faces is more attractive
than the individual faces used to create it (Langlois & Roggman, 1990). Also,
individual faces that have been morphed toward an average face are more
attractive than those that have been morphed away from average (see Figure
2; face from Martinez & Benevente, 1998). The preference for stimuli closer to
a category prototype is also consistent with the fact that we prefer men with
more masculine physical qualities and women with more feminine ones. This
1311
preference would further predict that the people who are most attractive
depend on our learning experiences, since what is average or prototypical in a
face, voice, or body will depend on the people we have seen. Consistent with
an effect of learning experiences, young infants prefer face morphs that are an
average of faces they have previously seen over morphs that are an average of
novel faces (Rubenstein, Kalakanis, & Langlois, 1999). Short-term perceptual
experiences can influence judgments of attractiveness even in adults. Brief
exposure to a series of faces with the same distortion increases the rated
attractiveness of new faces with that distortion (Rhodes, Jeffery, Watson,
Clifford, & Nakayama, 2003), and exposure to morphs of human and
chimpanzee faces increases the rated attractiveness of new human faces
morphed with a small degree of chimpanzee face (Principe & Langlois, 2012).
1312
Figure 2. Top. An averaged face created from 32 individual faces. Bottom left. Original face
from Martinez & Benevente (1998). Bottom middle. Original face morphed toward the average
face. Bottom right. Original face morphed away from the average face.
One reason average stimuli, including faces, may be preferred is that they
are easy to categorize, and when a stimulus is easy to categorize, it elicits positive
emotion (Winkielman, Halberstadt, Fazendeiro, & Catty, 2006). Another possible
reason average stimuli may be preferred is that we may be less apprehensive
about familiar-looking stimuli (Zajonc, 2001). All other things equal, we prefer
stimuli we have seen before over novel ones, a mere-exposure effect, and we
also prefer stimuli that are similar to those we have seen before, a generalized
mere-exposure
effect.
Consistent
with
reduced
apprehensiveness
mechanism, exposure to other-race faces reduced neural activation in a region

that responds to negatively valenced stimuli, not only for the faces the
1313
participants saw, but also new faces from the familiarized other-race category
(Zebrowitz & Zhang, 2012). Such a generalized mere-exposure effect also could
explain the preference for average stimuli, which look more familiar, although
the effect may be more reliable for judgments of likeability than attractiveness
(Rhodes, Halberstadt, & Brajkovich, 2001; Rhodes, Halberstadt, Jeffery, &
Palermo,
2005).
Whether
due
to
ease
of
categorization
or
less
apprehensiveness, the cognitive explanation holds that certain people are more
attractive because perceptual learning has rendered them more familiar.
In contrast to the cognitive explanation for why we find particular people

attractive, the evolutionary explanation argues that preferences developed
because it was adaptive to prefer those individuals. More specifically, the good
genes hypothesis proposes that people with physical qualities like averageness,
symmetry, sex prototypicality, and youthfulness are more attractive because
they are better-quality mates. Mate quality may reflect better health, greater
fertility, or better genetic traits that lead to better offspring and hence greater
reproductive success (Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999). Theoretically, averageness
and symmetry provide evidence of genetic fitness because they show the ability
to develop normally despite environmental stressors (Scheib, Gangestad, &
Thornhill, 1999). Averageness also signals genetic diversity (Thornhill &
Gangestad, 1999), which is associated with a strong immune system (Penn,
Damjanovich, & Potts, 2002). High masculinity in male faces may indicate fitness
1314
because it shows an ability to withstand the stress that testosterone places on

the immune system (Folstad & Karter, 1992). High femininity in female faces
may signal fitness by indicating sexual maturity and fertility. The evolutionary
account also can explain the attractiveness of youthfulness, since aging is often
associated with declines in cognitive and physical functioning and decreased
fertility.
Some researchers have investigated whether attractiveness actually does
signal mate quality by examining the relationship between facial attractiveness
and health (see Rhodes, 2006, for a review). Support for such a relationship is
weak. In particular, people rated very low in attractiveness, averageness, or
masculinity (in the case of men) tend to have poorer health than those who are
average in these qualities. However, people rated high in attractiveness,
averageness, or masculinity do not differ from those who are average (Zebrowitz
& Rhodes, 2004). Low body attractiveness, as indexed by overweight or a sexatypical waist-to-hip ratio, also may be associated with poorer health or lower
fertility in women (Singh & Singh, 2011). Others have assessed whether
attractiveness signals mate quality by examining the relationship with
intelligence, since more intelligent mates may increase reproductive success.
In particular, more intelligent mates may provide better parental care. Also,
since intelligence is heritable, more intelligent mates may yield more intelligent
offspring, who have a better chance of passing genes on to the next generation
(Miller & Todd, 1998). The evidence indicates that attractiveness is positively
correlated with intelligence. However, as in the case of health, the relationship
is weak, and it appears to be largely due to lower-than-average intelligence
among those who are very low in attractiveness rather than higher-thanaverage intelligence among those who are highly attractive (Zebrowitz &
Rhodes, 2004). These results are consistent with the fact that subtle negative
deviations from average attractiveness can signal low fitness. For example,
minor facial anomalies that are too subtle for the layperson to recognize as a
genetic anomaly are associated with lower intelligence (Foroud et al., 2012).
1315
Although the level of attractiveness provides a valid cue to low, but not high,
intelligence or health, it is important to bear in mind that attractiveness is only
a weak predictor of these traits, even in the range where it has some validity.
The finding that low, but not high, attractiveness can be diagnostic of actual
traits is consistent with another explanation for why we find particular people
attractive. This has been dubbed anomalous face overgeneralization, but it
could equally apply to anomalous voices or bodies. The evolutionary account
has typically assumed that as attractiveness increases, so does fitness, and it
has emphasized the greater fitness of highly attractive individuals, a good genes
effect (Buss, 1989). In contrast, the overgeneralization hypothesis argues that
the level of attractiveness provides an accurate index only of low fitness. On
this account, the attractiveness halo effect is a by-product of reactions to low
fitness. More specifically, we overgeneralize the adaptive tendency to use low
attractiveness as an indication of lower-than-average health and intelligence,
and we mistakenly use higher-than-average attractiveness as an indication of
higher-than-average health and intelligence (Zebrowitz & Rhodes, 2004). The
overgeneralization hypothesis differs from the evolutionary hypothesis in
another important respect. It is concerned with the importance of detecting
low fitness not only when choosing a mate, but also in other social interactions.
This is consistent with the fact that the attractiveness halo effect is present in
many domains.
Whereas the cultural, cognitive, and overgeneralization accounts of
attractiveness do not necessarily predict that the halo effect in impressions will
be accurate, the evolutionary good genes account does. As we have seen,
there is some support for this prediction, but the effects are too weak and
circumscribed to fully explain the strong halo effect in response to highly
attractive people. In addition, it is important to recognize that whatever accuracy
there is does not necessarily imply a genetic link between attractiveness and
adaptive traits, such as health or intelligence. One non-genetic mechanism is
an influence of environmental factors. For example, the quality of nutrition and
1316
that a person receives may have an impact on the development of both

attractiveness and health (Whitehead, Ozakinci, Stephen, & Perrett, 2012).
Another non-genetic explanation is a self-fulfilling prophecy effect (Snyder,
Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977). For example, the higher expectations that teachers
have for more attractive students may nurture higher intelligence, an effect
that has been shown when teachers have high expectations for reasons other
than appearance (Rosenthal, 2003).
Conclusions
Although it may seem unfair, attractiveness confers many advantages. More
attractive people are favored not only as romantic partners but, more
surprisingly, by their parents, peers, teachers, employers, and even judges and
voters. Moreover, there is substantial agreement about who is attractive, with
infants and perceivers from diverse cultures showing similar responses.
Although this suggests that cultural influences cannot completely explain
attractiveness, experience does have an influence. There is controversy about
why certain people are attractive to us. The cognitive account attributes higher
attractiveness to the ease of processing prototypes or the safety associated
with familiar stimuli. The evolutionary account attributes higher attractiveness
to the adaptive value of preferring physical qualities that signal better health
or genetic fitness when choosing mates. The overgeneralization account
attributes higher attractiveness to the overgeneralization of an adaptive
avoidance of physical qualities that signal poor health or low genetic fitness.
Although there is debate as to which explanation is best, it is important to realize
that all of the proposed mechanisms may have some validity.
1317
Outside Resources
Video: Multiple videos realted to the science of beauty
http://dsc.discovery.com/search.htm?terms=science+of+beauty
Video: Multiple videos related to the science of sex appeal
http://dsc.discovery.com/search.htm?terms=science+of+sex+appeal
1. Why do you think the attractiveness halo exists even though there is very
little evidence that attractive people are more intelligent or healthy?
2. What cultural influences affect whom you perceive as attractive? Why?
3. How do you think evolutionary theories of why faces are attractive apply in
a modern world, where people are much more likely to survive and
reproduce, regardless of how intelligent or healthy they are?
4. Which of the theories do you think provides the most compelling
explanation for why we find certain people attractive?
Vocabulary
Anomalous face overgeneralization hypothesis
Proposes that the attractiveness halo effect is a
by-product of reactions to low fitness. People overgeneralize the adaptive
tendency to use low attractiveness as an indicator of negative traits, like low
health or intelligence, and mistakenly use higher-than-average attractiveness
as an indicator of high health or intelligence.
Attractiveness halo effect

The tendency to associate attractiveness with a variety of positive traits, such
as being more sociable, intelligent, competent, and healthy.
Good genes hypothesis

Proposes that certain physical qualities, like averageness, are attractive because
they advertise mate qualityeither greater fertility or better genetic traits that
lead to better offspring and hence greater reproductive success.
Mere-exposure effect
The tendency to prefer stimuli that have been seen before over novel ones.
There also is a generalized mere-exposure effect shown in a preference for
stimuli that are similar to those that have been seen before.
Morph
A face or other image that has been transformed by a computer program so
that it is a mixture of multiple images.
Prototype
A typical, or average, member of a category. Averageness increases
attractiveness.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Attraction and Beauty by Robert G. Franklin and
Leslie Zebrowitz is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Industrial/Organizational (I/
O) Psychology
Berrin Erdogan & Talya N. Bauer
Portland State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to industrial and organizational (I/O)
psychology. I/O psychology is an area of psychology that specializes in the
scientific study of behavior in organizational settings and the application of
psychology to understand work behavior. The U.S. Department of Labor
estimates that I/O psychology, as a field, will grow 26% by the year 2018. I/O
psychologists typically have advanced degrees such as a Ph.D. or masters
degree and may work in academic, consulting, government, military, or private
for-profit and not-for-profit organizational settings. Depending on the state in
which they work, I/O psychologists may be licensed. They might ask and answer
questions such as What makes people happy at work? What motivates
employees at work? What types of leadership styles result in better
performance of employees? Who are the best applicants to hire for a job?
One hallmark of I/O psychology is its basis in data and evidence to answer such
questions, and I/O psychology is based on the scientist-practitioner model. The
key individuals and studies in the history of I/O psychology are addressed in
this chapter. Further, professional I/O associations are discussed, as are the
key areas of competence developed in I/O masters programs.
What is Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology?

Psychology as a field is composed of many different areas. When thinking of
psychology, the person on the street probably imagines the clinical psychologist
who studies and treats dysfunctional behavior or maybe the criminal
psychologist who has become familiar due to popular TV shows such as Law &
Order. I/O psychology may be underrepresented on TV, but it is a fast-growing
and influential branch of psychology.
What is I/O psychology? Briefly, it can be defined as the scientific study of
behavior in organizational settings and the application of psychology to
understand work behavior. In other words, while general psychology concerns
itself with behavior of individuals in general, I/O psychology focuses on
understanding employee behavior in work settings. For example, they ask
questions such as: How can organizations recruit and select the people they
need in order to remain productive? How can organizations assess and improve
the performance of their employees? What work and non-work factors
contribute to the happiness, effectiveness, and well-being of employees in the
workplace? How does work influence non-work behavior and happiness? What
motivates employees at work? All of these important queries fall within the
domain of I/O psychology. Table 1 presents a list of tasks I/O psychologists may
perform in their work. This is an extensive list, and one person will not be
responsible for all these tasks. The I/O psychology field prepares and trains
individuals to be more effective in performing the tasks listed in this table.
nobaproject.com - Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology
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Table 1. Sample Tasks I/O Psychologists May Perform
At this point you may be asking yourself: Does psychology really need a
special field to study work behaviors? In other words, wouldnt the findings of
general psychology be sufficient to understand how individuals behave at work?
The answer is an underlined no. Employees behave differently at work
compared with how they behave in general. While some fundamental principles
of psychology definitely explain how employees behave at work (such as
selective perception or the desire to relate to those who are similar to us),
organizational settings are unique. To begin with, organizations have a
hierarchy. They have job descriptions for employees. Individuals go to work not
only to seek fulfillment and to remain active, but also to receive a paycheck and
satisfy their financial needs. Even when they dislike their jobs, many stay and
continue to work until a better alternative comes along. All these constraints
suggest that how we behave at work may be somewhat different from how we
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would behave without these constraints. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, in 2011, more than 149 million individuals worked at least part time
and spent many hours of the week workingsee Figure 1 for a breakdown (U.
S. Department of Labor, 2011). In other words, we spend a large portion of our
waking hours at work. How happy we are with our jobs and our careers is a
primary predictor of how happy and content we are with our lives in general
(Erdogan, Bauer, Truxillo, & Mansfield, 2012). Therefore, the I/O psychology field
has much to offer to individuals and organizations interested in increasing
employee productivity, retention, and effectiveness while at the same time
ensuring that employees are happy and healthy.
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Figure 1. Average Hours Worked by Full Time and Part Time Workers
It seems that I/O psychology is useful for organizations, but how is it helpful
to you? Findings of I/O psychology are useful and relevant to everyone who is
planning to work in an organizational setting. Note that we are not necessarily
taking about a business setting. Even if you are planning to form your own band,
or write a novel, or work in a not-for-profit organization, you will likely be working
in, or interacting with, organizations. Understanding why people behave the
way they do will be useful to you by helping you motivate and influence your
coworkers and managers, communicate your message more effectively,
negotiate a contract, and manage your own work life and career in a way that
fits your life and career goals.
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What Does an I/O Psychologist Do?

I/O psychology is a scientific discipline. Similar to other scientific fields, it uses
research methods and approaches, and tests hypotheses. However, I/O
psychology is a social science. This means that its findings will always be less
exact than in physical sciences. Physical sciences study natural matter in closed
systems and in controlled conditions. Social sciences study human behavior in
its natural setting, with multiple factors that can affect behavior, so their
predictive ability will never be perfect. While we can expect that two hydrogen
and one oxygen atom will always make water when combined, combining job
satisfaction with fair treatment will not always result in high performance. There
are many influences on employee behaviors at work, and how they behave
depends on the person interacting with a given situation on a given day.
Despite the lack of precise results, I/O psychology uses scientific principles
to study organizational phenomena. Many of those who conduct these studies
are located at universities, in psychology or management departments, but
there are also many who work in private, government, or military organizations
who conduct studies about I/O-related topics. These scholars conduct studies
to understand topics such as What makes people happy at work? What
motivates employees at work? What types of leadership styles result in better
performance of employees? I/O psychology researchers tend to have a Ph.D.
degree, and they develop hypotheses, find ways of reasonably testing those
hypotheses in organizational settings, and distribute their findings by
publishing in academic journals.
I/O psychology is based on the scientist-practitioner model. In other words,
while the science part deals with understanding how and why things happen
at work, the practitioner side takes a data-driven approach to understand
organizational problems and to apply these findings to solving these specific
problems facing the organization. While practitioners may learn about the most
recent research findings by reading the journals that publish these results, some
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conduct their own research in their own companies, and some companies
employ many I/O psychologists.Google is one company that collects and
analyzes data to deal with talent-related issues. Google uses an annual
Googlegeist (roughly translating to the spirit of Google) survey to keep tabs on
how happy employees are. When survey results as well as turnover data showed
that new mothers were twice as likely to leave the company as the average
employee, the company made changes in its maternity leave policy and
mitigated the problem (Manjoo, 2013). In other words, I/O psychologists both
contribute to the science of workplace behavior by generating knowledge and
solve actual problems organizations face by designing the workplace
recruitment, selection, and workforce management policies using this
knowledge.
While the scientist-practitioner model is the hoped-for ideal, not everyone
agrees that it captures the reality. Some argue that practitioners are not always
up to date about what scientists know and, conversely, that scientists do not
study what practitioners really care about often enough (Briner & Rousseau,
2011). At the same time, consumers of research should be wary, as there is
some pseudo-science out there. The issues related to I/O psychology are
important to organizations, which are sometimes willing to pay a lot of money
for solutions to their problems, with some people trying to sell their most recent
invention in employee testing, training, performance appraisal, and coaching
to organizations. Many of these claims are not valid, and there is very little
evidence that some of these products, in fact, improve the performance or
retention of employees. Therefore, organizations and consumers of I/O-related
knowledge and interventions need to be selective and ask to see such evidence
(which is not the same as asking to see the list of other clients who purchased
their products!).
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Careers in I/O Psychology

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that I/O psychology as a field is
expected to grow 26% by the year 2018 (American Psychological Association,
2011) so the job outlook for I/O psychologists is good. Helping organizations
understand and manage their workforce more effectively using science-based
tools is important regardless of the shape of the economy, and I/O psychology
as a field remains a desirable career option for those who have an interest in
psychology in a work-related context coupled with an affinity for research
methods and statistics.
If you would like to refer to yourself as a psychologist in the United States,
then you would need to be licensed, and this requirement also applies to I/O
psychologists. Licensing requirements vary by state (see for details). However,
it is possible to pursue a career relating to I/O psychology without holding the
title psychologist. Licensing requirements usually include a doctoral degree in
psychology. That said, there are many job opportunities for those with a
masters degree in I/O psychology, or in related fields such as organizational
behavior and human resource management.
Academics and practitioners who work in I/O psychology or related fields
are often members of the Society for Industrial and Organizational
Psychology (SIOP). Students with an interest in I/O psychology are eligible to
become an affiliated member of this organization, even if they are not pursuing
a degree related to I/O psychology. SIOP membership brings benefits including
networking opportunities and subscriptions to an academic journal of I/O
research and a newsletter detailing current issues in I/O. The organization
supports its members by providing forums for information and idea exchange,
as well as monitoring developments about the field for its membership. SIOP
is an independent organization but also a subdivision of American Psychological
Association (APA), which is the scientific organization that represents
psychologists in the United States. Different regions of the world have their own
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associations for I/O psychologists. For example, European Association for Work
and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP) is the premiere organization for I/O
psychologists in Europe, where I/O psychology is typically referred to as work
and organizational psychology. A global federation of I/O psychology
organizations, named the Alliance for Organizational Psychology, was recently
established. It currently has three member organizations (SIOP, EAWOP, and
the Organizational Psychology Division of the International Association for
Applied Psychology, or Division 1), with plans to expand in the future. The
Association for Psychological Science (APS) is another association to which many
I/O psychologists belong.
Those who work in the I/O field may be based at a university, teaching and
researching I/O-related topics. Some private organizations employing I/O
psychologists include DDI, HUMRRO, Valtera, and Kenexa. These organizations
engage in services such as testing, performance management, and
administering attitude surveys. Many organizations also hire in-house
employees with expertise in I/O psychologyrelated fields to work in
departments including human resource management or people analytics.
According to a 2011 membership survey of SIOP, the largest percentage of
members were employed in academic institutions, followed by those in
consulting or independent practice, private sector organizations, and public
sector organizations (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology,
2011). Moreover, the majority of respondents (86%) were not licensed.
History of I/O Psychology

The field of I/O psychology is almost as old as the field of psychology itself. In
order to understand any field, it helps to understand how it started and evolved.
Lets look at the pioneers of I/O psychology and some defining studies and
developments in the field (see Koppes, 1997; Landy, 1997).
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The term founding father of I/O psychology is usually associated with Hugo
Munsterberg of Harvard University. His 1913 book on Psychology and Industrial
Efficiency, is considered to be the first textbook in I/O psychology. The book is
the first to discuss topics such as how to find the best person for the job and
how to design jobs to maintain efficiency by dealing with fatigue.
One of his contemporaries, Frederick Taylor, was not a psychologist and is
considered to be a founding father not of I/O psychology but of scientific
management. Despite his non-psychology background, his ideas were
important to the development of the I/O psychology field, because they evolved
at around the same time, and some of his innovations, such as job analysis,
later became critically important aspects of I/O psychology. Taylor was an
engineer and management consultant who pioneered time studies where
management observed how work was being performed and how it could be
performed better. For example, after analyzing how workers shoveled coal, he
decided that the optimum weight of coal to be lifted was 21 pounds, and he
designed a shovel to be distributed to workers for this purpose. He instituted
mandatory breaks to prevent fatigue, which increased efficiency of workers.
His book Principles of Scientific Management was highly influential in pointing
out how management could play a role in increasing efficiency of human factors.
Lillian Gilbreth was an engineer and I/O psychologist, arguably completing
the first Ph.D. in I/O psychology. She and her husband, Frank Gilbreth, developed
Taylors ideas by conducting time and motion studies, but also bringing more
humanism to these efforts. Gilbreth underlined the importance of how workers
felt about their jobs, in addition to how they could perform their jobs more
efficiently. She was also the first to bring attention to the value of observing job
candidates while they performed their jobs, which is the foundation behind
work sample tests. The Gilbreths ran a successful consulting business based
on these ideas. Her advising of GE in kitchen redesign resulted in foot-pedal
trash cans and shelves in refrigerator doors. Her life with her husband and 12
kids is detailed in a book later made into a 1950 movie, Cheaper by the Dozen,
1342
authored by two of her children.

World War I was a turning point for the field of I/O psychology, as it
popularized the notion of testing for placement purposes. During and after the
war, more than 1 million Americans were tested, which exposed a generation
of men to the idea of using tests as part of selection and placement. Following
the war, the idea of testing started to take root in the private industry. American
Psychological Association President Robert Yerkes, as well as Walter Dill Scott
and Walter Van Dyke Bingham from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (later
Carnegie Mellon University) division of applied psychology department were
influential in popularizing the idea of testing by offering their services to the U.
S. Army.
Another major development in the field was the Hawthorne Studies,
conducted under the leadership of Harvard University researchers Elton Mayo
and Fritz Roethlisberger at the Western Electric Co. in the late 1920s. Originally
planned as a study of the effects of lighting on productivity, this series of studies
revealed unexpected and surprising findings. For example, one study showed
that regardless of the level of change in lighting, productivity remained high
and started worsening only when it was reduced to the level of moonlight.
Further exploration resulted in the hypothesis that employees were responding
to being paid attention to and being observed, rather than the level of lighting
(called the Hawthorne effect). Another study revealed the phenomenon of
group pressure on individuals to limit production to be below their capacity.
These studies are considered to be classics in I/O psychology due to their
underlining the importance of understanding employee psychology to make
sense of employee behavior in the workplace.
Since then, thousands of articles have been published on topics relating to
I/O psychology, and it is one of the influential subdimensions of psychology. I/
O psychologists generate scholarly knowledge and have a role in recruitment,
selection, assessment and development of talent, and design and improvement
of the workplace. One of the major projects I/O psychologists contributed to is
1343
O*Net, a vast database of occupational information sponsored by the U.S.

government, which contains information on hundreds of jobs, listing tasks,
knowledge, skill, and ability requirements of jobs, work activities, contexts under
which work is performed, as well as personality and values that are critical to
effectiveness on those jobs. This database is free and a useful resource for
students, job seekers, and HR professionals.
Findings of I/O psychology have the potential to contribute to the health
and happiness of people around the world. When people are asked how happy
they are with their lives, their feelings about the work domain are a big part of
how they answer this question. I/O psychology research uncovers the secrets
of a happy workplace (see Table 2). Organizations designed around these
principles will see direct benefits, in the form of employee happiness, well-being,
motivation, effectiveness, and retention.
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Table 2. Designing Work for Happiness: Research Based Recommendations. Based on

research summarized in Erdogan et al., 2012.
We have now reviewed what I/O psychology is, what I/O psychologists do,
the history of I/O, associations related to I/O psychology, and accomplishments
of I/O psychologists. Those interested in finding out more about I/O psychology
are encouraged to visit the outside resources below to learn more.
1345
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology by

Berrin Erdogan and Talya N. Bauer is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Topic 8
Personality
The Psychodynamic
Perspective
Robert Bornstein
Adelphi University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Originating in the work of Sigmund Freud, the psychodynamic perspective
emphasizes unconscious psychological processes (for example, wishes and
fears of which were not fully aware), and contends that childhood experiences
are crucial in shaping adult personality. The psychodynamic perspective has
evolved considerably since Freuds time, and now includes innovative new
approaches such as object relations theory and neuropsychoanalysis. Some
psychodynamic concepts have held up well to empirical scrutiny while others
have not, and aspects of the theory remain controversial, but the
psychodynamic perspective continues to influence many different areas of
contemporary psychology.
Learning Objectives
Describe the major models of personality within the psychodynamic

perspective.
Define the concept of ego defense, and give examples of commonly used
ego defenses.
Identify psychodynamic concepts that have been supported by empirical

research.
Discuss current trends in psychodynamic theory.
Introduction
Have you ever done something that didnt make sense? Perhaps you waited
until the last minute to begin studying for an exam, even though you knew that
delaying so long would ensure that you got a poor grade. Or maybe you spotted
a person you liked across the roomsomeone about whom you had romantic
feelingsbut instead of approaching that person you headed the other way
(and felt ashamed about it afterward). If youve ever done something that didnt
seem to make senseand who among us hasntthe psychodynamic
perspective on personality might be useful for you. It can help you understand
why you chose not to study for that test, or why you ran the other way when
the person of your dreams entered the room.
Psychodynamic theory (sometimes called psychoanalytic theory) explains
personality in terms of unconscious psychological processes (for example,
wishes and fears of which were not fully aware), and contends that childhood
experiences are crucial in shaping adult personality. Psychodynamic theory is
most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud, and with
psychoanalysis, a type of psychotherapy that attempts to explore the patients
unconscious thoughts and emotions so that the person is better able to
understand him- or herself.
Freuds work has been extremely influential, its impact extending far beyond
psychology (several years ago Time magazine selected Freud as one of the most
important thinkers of the 20th century). Freuds work has been not only
influential, but quite controversial as well. As you might imagine, when Freud
suggested in 1900 that much of our behavior is determined by psychological
forces of which were largely unawarethat we literally dont know whats going
on in our own mindspeople were (to put it mildly) displeased (Freud,
1900/1953a). When he suggested in 1905 that we humans have strong sexual
feelings from a very early age, and that some of these sexual feelings are
directed toward our parents, people were more than displeasedthey were
nobaproject.com - The Psychodynamic Perspective
1351
outraged (Freud, 1905/1953b). Few theories in psychology have evoked such

strong reactions from other professionals and members of the public.
Controversy notwithstanding, no competent psychologist, or student of
psychology, can ignore psychodynamic theory. It is simply too important for
psychological science and practice, and continues to play an important role in
a wide variety of disciplines within and outside psychology (for example,
developmental psychology, social psychology, sociology, and neuroscience; see
Bornstein, 2005, 2006; Solms & Turnbull, 2011). This chapter reviews the
psychodynamic perspective on personality. We begin with a brief discussion
of the core assumptions of psychodynamic theory, followed by an overview of
the evolution of the theory from Freuds time to today. We then discuss the
place of psychodynamic theory within contemporary psychology, and look
toward the future as well.
Core Assumptions of the Psychodynamic Perspective

The core assumptions of psychodynamic theory are surprisingly simple.
Moreover, these assumptions are unique to the psychodynamic framework:
No other theories of personality accept these three ideas in their purest form.
Assumption 1:Primacy of the Unconscious

Psychodynamic theorists contend that the majority of psychological processes
take place outside conscious awareness. In psychoanalytic terms, the activities
of the mind (or psyche) are presumed to be largely unconscious. Research
confirms this basic premise of psychoanalysis: Many of our mental activities
memories, motives, feelings, and the likeare largely inaccessible to
consciousness (Bargh & Morsella, 2008; Bornstein, 2010; Wilson, 2009).
1352
Assumption 2: Critical Importance of Early Experiences

Psychodynamic theory is not alone in positing that early childhood events play
a role in shaping personality, but the theory is unique in the degree to which it
emphasizes these events as determinants of personality development and
dynamics.
According to the psychodynamic model, early experiences
including those occurring during the first weeks or months of lifeset in motion
personality processes that affect us years, even decades, later (Blatt & Levy,
2003; McWilliams, 2009). This is especially true of experiences that are outside
the normal range (for example, losing a parent or sibling at a very early age).
Assumption 3: Psychic Causality

The third core assumption of psychodynamic theory is that nothing in mental
life happens by chancethat there is no such thing as a random thought,
feeling, motive, or behavior. This has come to be known as the principle of
psychic causality, and though few psychologists accept the principle of psychic
causality precisely as psychoanalysts conceive it, most theorists and
researchers agree that thoughts, motives, emotional responses, and expressed
behaviors do not arise randomly, but always stem from some combination of
identifiable biological and psychological processes (Elliott, 2002; Robinson &
Gordon, 2011).
The Evolution of Psychodynamic Theory

Given Freuds background in neurology, it is not surprising that the first
incarnation of psychoanalytic theory was primarily biological: Freud set out to
explain psychological phenomena in terms that could be linked to neurological
functioning as it was understood in his day. Because Freuds work in this area
1353
evolved over more than 50 years (he began in 1885, and continued until he died
in 1939), there were numerous revisions along the way. Thus, it is most accurate
to think of psychodynamic theory as a set of interrelated models that
complement and build upon each other. Three are particularly important: the
topographic model, the psychosexual stage model, and the structural model.
The Topographic Model

In his 1900 book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud introduced his
topographic model of the mind, which contended that the mind could be
divided into three regions: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The
conscious part of the mind holds information that youre focusing on at this
momentwhat youre thinking and feeling right now.
The preconscious
contains material that is capable of becoming conscious but is not conscious

at the moment because your attention is not being directed toward it. You can
move material from the preconscious into consciousness simply by focusing
your attention on it. Consider, for example, what you had for dinner last night.
A moment ago that information was preconscious; now its conscious, because
you pulled it up into consciousness. (Not to worry, in a few moments it will
be preconscious again, and you can move on to more important things.)
The unconsciousthe most controversial part of the topographic model
contains anxiety-producing material (for example, sexual impulses, aggressive
urges) that are deliberately repressed (held outside of conscious awareness as
a form of self-protection because they make you uncomfortable). The terms
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious continue to be used today in
psychology, and research has provided considerable support for Freuds
thinking regarding conscious and preconscious processing (Erdelyi, 1985, 2004).
The existence of the unconscious remains controversial, with some researchers
arguing that evidence for it is compelling and others contending that
unconscious processing can be accounted for without positing the existence
1354
of a Freudian repository of repressed wishes and troubling urges and impulses

(Eagle, 2011; Luborsky & Barrett, 2006).
The Psychosexual Stage Model

Freud remained devoted to the topographic model, but by 1905 he had outlined
the key elements of his psychosexual stage model, which argued that early in
life we progress through a sequence of developmental stages, each with its own
unique challenge and its own mode of sexual gratification. Freuds psychosexual
stagesoral, anal, Oedipal, latency, and genitalare well-known even to nonanalytic psychologists. Frustration or overgratification during a particular stage
was hypothesized to result in fixation at that stage, and to the development
of an oral, anal, or Oedipal personality style (Bornstein, 2005, 2006).
Table 1 illustrates the basic organization of Freuds (1905/1953b)
psychosexual stage model, and the three personality styles that result. Note
thatconsistent with the developmental challenges that the child confronts
during each stageoral fixation is hypothesized to result in a dependent
personality, whereas anal fixation results in a lifelong preoccupation with
control.
Oedipal fixation leads to an aggressive, competitive personality
orientation.
The Structural Model

Ultimately, Freud recognized that the topographic model was helpful in
understanding how people process and store information, but not all that useful
in explaining other important psychological phenomena (for example, why
certain people develop psychological disorders and others do not). To extend
his theory, Freud developed a complementary framework to account for normal
and abnormal personality developmentthe structural modelwhich posits
the existence of three interacting mental structures called the id, ego, and
1355
superego. The id is the seat of drives and instincts, whereas the ego represents
the logical, reality-oriented part of the mind, and the superego is basically your
consciencethe moral guidelines, rules, and prohibitions that guide your
behavior. (You acquire these through your family and through the culture in
which you were raised.)
According to the structural model, our personality reflects the interplay of
these three psychic structures, which differ across individuals in relative power
and influence. When the id predominates and instincts rule, the result is an
impulsive personality style. When the superego is strongest, moral prohibitions
reign supreme, and a restrained, overcontrolled personality ensues. When the
ego is dominant, a more balanced set of personality traits develop (Eagle, 2011;
McWilliams, 2009).
The Ego and Its Defenses

In addition to being the logical, rational, reality-oriented part of the mind, the
ego serves another important function: It helps us manage anxiety through the
use of ego defenses. Ego defenses are basically mental strategies that we use
automatically and unconsciously when we feel threatened (Cramer, 2000, 2006).
They help us navigate upsetting events, but theres a cost as well: All ego
defenses involve some distortion of reality. For example, repression (the most
basic ego defense, according to Freud) involves removing from consciousness
upsetting thoughts and feelings, and moving those thoughts and feelings to
the unconscious. When you read about a person who blocked out upsetting
memories of child abuse, thats an example of repression.
Another ego defense is denial. In denial (unlike repression), we are aware
that a particular event occurred, but we dont allow ourselves to see the
implications of that event. When you hear a person with a substance abuse
problem say Im fineeven though people complain about my drinking I never
miss a day of work, that person is using denial. Table 2 lists some common
1356
ego defenses in psychodynamic theory, along with a definition and example of

each.
Psychodynamic Theories: Where Are We Now?

The topographic model, psychosexual stage model, and structural model
continue to influence contemporary psychology, but it is important to keep in
mind that psychodynamic theory is never static, ever changing and evolving in
response to new ideas and findings. In the following sections we discussion
four current trends in the psychodynamic perspective: object relations theory,
the empirical testing of psychodynamic concepts, psychoanalysis and culture,
and the opportunities and challenges of neuroscience.
Object Relations Theory and the Growth of the

Psychodynamic Perspective
In recent years a number of new psychodynamic frameworks have emerged to
explain personality development and dynamics. The most important of these
is object relations theory. (In psychoanalytic language, the term object refers
to a person, so object relations theory is really something more like
interpersonal relations theory.)
Object relations theory contends that personality can be understood as
reflecting the mental images of significant figures (especially the parents) that
we form early in life in response to interactions taking place within the family
(Kernberg, 2004; Wachtel, 1997). These mental images (sometimes called
introjects) serve as templates for later interpersonal relationshipsalmost like
relationship blueprints or scripts. So if you internalized positive introjects
early in life (for example, a mental image of mom or dad as warm and accepting),
thats what you expect to occur in later relationships as well. If you internalized
1357
a mental image of mom or dad as harsh and judgmental, you might instead
become a self-critical person, and feel that you can never live up to other
peoples standards . . . or your own (Luyten & Blatt, 2013).
Object relations theory has increased many psychologists interest in
studying psychodynamic ideas and concepts, in part because it represents a
natural bridge between the psychodynamic perspective and research in other
areas of psychology. For example, developmental and social psychologists also
believe that mental representations of significant people play an important role
in shaping our behavior. In developmental psychology you might read about
this in the context of attachment theory (which argues that attachmentsor
bondsto significant people are key to understanding human behavior; Fraley,
2002). In social psychology, mental representations of significant figures play
an important role in social cognition (thoughts and feelings regarding other
people; Bargh & Morsella, 2008; Robinson & Gordon, 2011).
Empirical Research on Psychodynamic Theories

Empirical research assessing psychodynamic concepts has produced mixed
results, with some concepts receiving good empirical support, and others not
faring as well. For example, the notion that we express strong sexual feelings
from a very early age, as the psychosexual stage model suggests, has not held
up to empirical scrutiny. On the other hand, the idea that there are dependent,
control-oriented, and competitive personality typesan idea also derived from
the psychosexual stage modeldoes seem useful.
Many ideas from the psychodynamic perspective have been studied
empirically. Luborsky and Barrett (2006) reviewed much of this research; other
useful reviews are provided by Bornstein (2005), Gerber (2007), and Huprich
(2009). For now, lets look at three psychodynamic hypotheses that have
received strong empirical support.
1358
Unconscious processes influence our behavior as the psychodynamic

perspective predicts. We perceive and process much more information
than we realize, and much of our behavior is shaped by feelings and motives
of which we are, at best, only partially aware
(Bornstein, 2009, 2010).
Evidence
for the importance of unconscious influences is so compelling
that it has
become a central element of contemporary cognitive and social
psychology
(Robinson & Gordon, 2011).
We all use ego defenses and they

adjustment and physical health.
that they rely on different
help determine our psychological

People really do differ in the degree
ego defensesso much so that researchers
now study each persons defense style
(the unique constellation of
defenses that we use). It turns out that certain defenses are more adaptive
than others: Rationalization and sublimation are healthier (psychologically
speaking) than repression and reaction formation (Cramer, 2006). Denial
is, quite literally,
bad for your health, because people who use denial
tend to ignore symptoms
of illness until its too late (Bond, 2004).
Mental representations of self and
others do indeed serve as blueprints
for later relationships. Dozens have studies have shown that

images of our parents, and other significant figures, really do
expectations for later friendships and romantic
that you
mental
shape our
relationships. The idea
choose a romantic partner who resembles mom or dad is a
myth, but its

treated by your
true that you expect to be treated by others as you were

parents early in life (Silverstein, 2007; Wachtel, 1997).
Psychoanalysis and Culture
1359
One of Freuds lifelong goals was to use psychoanalytic principles to understand

culture and improve intergroup relations (he actually exchanged several letters
with Albert Einstein prior to World War II, in which they discussed this issue).
During the past several decades, as society has become increasingly
multicultural, this effort has taken on new importance; psychoanalysts have
been active in incorporating ideas and findings regarding cultural influences
into their research and clinical work. For example, studies have shown that
individuals raised in individualistic, independence-focused cultures (for
example, the United States, Great Britain) tend to define themselves primarily
in terms of personal attributes (like attitudes and interests), whereas individuals
raised in more sociocentric, interdependent cultures (for example, Japan, India)
are more likely to describe themselves in terms of interpersonal relations and
connections with others (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Our selfrepresentations are, quite literally, a product of our cultural milieu (Markus &
Kitayama, 2010).
The Opportunities and Challenges of Neuroscience

Fifteen years ago, Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel (1998) articulated a vision for an
empirically oriented psychodynamic perspective firmly embedded within the
principles and findings of neuroscience. Kandels vision ultimately led to the
development of neuropsychoanalysis, an integration of psychodynamic and
neuropsychological concepts that has enhanced researchers understanding of
numerous aspects of human behavior and mental functioning (Solms &
Turnbull, 2011). Some of the first efforts to integrate psychodynamic principles
with findings from neuroscience involved sleep and dreams, and contemporary
models of dream formation now incorporate principles from both domains
(Levin & Nielsen, 2007). Neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic
resonance imagery (fMRI) have begun to play an increasingly central role in this
ongoing psychoanalysisneuroscience integration as well (Gerber, 2007; Slipp,
1360
2000).
Looking Ahead: Psychodynamic Theory in the 21st

Century (and Beyond)
Despite being surrounded by controversy, the psychodynamic perspective on
personality has survived for more than a century, reinventing itself in response
to new empirical findings, theoretical shifts, and changing social forces. The
psychodynamic perspective evolved considerably during the 20th century and
will continue to evolve throughout the 21st century as well. Psychodynamic
theory may be the closest thing we have to an overarching, all-encompassing
theory in psychology. It deals with a broad range of issuesnormal and
pathological functioning, motivation and emotion, childhood and adulthood,
individual and cultureand the psychodynamic perspective continues to have
tremendous potential for integrating ideas and findings across the many
domains of contemporary psychology.
1361
Table 1: The Psychosexual Stage Model
1362
Table 2: Some Common Ego Defenses
1363
Table 3: Conceptions of Personality within Psychodynamic Theory
1364
Outside Resources
Institution: Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) - A
branch of the International Psychoanalytic Association, IPTAR plays an active
role in supporting empirical research on psychoanalytic theory and therapy.
http://www.iptar.org/
Institution: The American Psychoanalytic Association - The American
Psychoanalytic Association supports psychodynamic training and research,
and sponsors a number of workshops (as well as two annual meetings) each
year.
http://www.apsa.org/
Institution:
The
American
Psychological
Association
Division
of
Psychoanalysis - Division 39 of the American Psychological Association is the

psychological home of psychodynamic theory and research.
http://www.apadivisions.org/division-39/
Web: Library of Congress Exhibit Freud: Conflict and Culture. This is a terrific
website full of photos, original manuscripts, and links to various Freud
artifacts. Toward the end of Section Three (From the Individual to Society)
there is a link to Freuds 1938 BBC radio address; play it and youll get to hear
Freuds voice.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/freud/
1. What is psychic causality?
2. What are the main differences between the preconscious and the
unconscious in Freuds topographic model?
3. What are the three key structures in the structural model of the mindand
what does each structure do?
4. Which ego defense do you think is more adaptive: reaction formation or
sublimation? Why?
5. How do people raised in individualistic societies differ from those raised in
more sociocentric societies with respect to their self-concepthow do they
perceive and describe themselves?
6. According to object relations theory, how do early relationships with our
parents and other significant figures affect later friendships and romantic
relationships?
7. Which field has the potential to benefit more from the emerging new
discipline of neuropsychoanalysis: neuroscience, or psychoanalysis? Why?
Vocabulary
Ego defenses
Mental strategies, rooted in the ego, that we use to manage anxiety when we
feel threatened (some examples include repression, denial, sublimation, and
reaction formation).
Neuropsychoanalysis
An integrative, interdisciplinary domain of inquiry seeking to integrate
psychoanalytic and neuropsychological ideas and findings to enhance both
areas of inquiry (you can learn more by visiting the webpage of the International
Neuropsychoanalysis Society at http://www.neuropsa.org.uk/).
Object relations theory

A modern offshoot of the psychodynamic perspective, this theory contends
that personality can be understood as reflecting mental images of significant
figures (especially the parents) that we form early in life in response to
interactions taking place within the family; these mental images serve as
templates (or scripts) for later interpersonal relationships.
Primacy of the Unconscious

The hypothesissupported by contemporary empirical researchthat the vast
majority of mental activity takes place outside conscious awareness.
Psychic causality
The assumption that nothing in mental life happens by chancethat there is
no such thing as a random thought or feeling.
Psychosexual stage model

Probably the most controversial aspect of psychodynamic theory, the
psychosexual stage model contends that early in life we progress through a
sequence of developmental stages (oral, anal, Oedipal, latency, and genital),
each with its own unique mode of sexual gratification.
Structural model
Developed to complement and extend the topographic model, the structural
model of the mind posits the existence of three interacting mental structures
called the id, ego, and superego.
Topographic model
Freuds first model of the mind, which contended that the mind could be divided
into three regions: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.
topographic comes from the fact that topography is the study of maps.)
(The
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standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud
(Vols. 4-5). London, England: Hogarth. (Original work published 1900)
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Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of
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work published 1905)
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Psychodynamic Perspective by Robert

Bornstein is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Personality Traits
Edward Diener & Richard E. Lucas
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Michigan State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Personality traits reflect peoples characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors. Personality traits imply consistency and stabilitysomeone who
scores high on a specific trait like Extraversion is expected to be sociable in
different situations and over time. Thus, trait psychology rests on the idea that
people differ from one another in terms of where they stand on a set of basic
trait dimensions that persist over time and across situations. The most widely
used system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model. This system includes five
broad traits that can be remembered with the acronym OCEAN: Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Each of the
major traits from the Big Five can be divided into facets to give a more finegrained analysis of someone's personality. In addition, some trait theorists
argue that there are other traits that cannot be completely captured by the FiveFactor Model. Critics of the trait concept argue that people do not act
consistently from one situation to the next and that people are very influenced
by situational forces. Thus, one major debate in the field concerns the relative
power of peoples traits versus the situations in which they find themselves as
predictors of their behavior.
Learning Objectives
List and describe the Big Five (OCEAN) personality traits that comprise
the Five-Factor Model of personality.
Describe how the facet approach extends broad personality traits.
Explain a critique of the personality-trait concept.
Describe in what ways personality traits may be manifested in everyday

behavior.
Describe each of the Big Five personality traits, and the low and high end
of the dimension.
Give examples of each of the Big Five personality traits, including both a low
and high example.
Describe how traits and social learning combine to predict your social
activities.
Describe your theory of how personality traits get refined by social learning.
Introduction
When we observe people around us, one of the first things that strikes us is
how different people are from one another. Some people are very talkative
while others are very quiet. Some are active whereas others are couch potatoes.
Some worry a lot, others almost never seem anxious. Each time we use one of
these words, words like talkative, quiet, active, or anxious, to describe
those around us, we are talking about a persons personalitythe characteristic
ways that people differ from one another. Personality psychologists try to
describe and understand these differences.
Although there are many ways to think about the personalities that people
have, Gordon Allport and other personologists claimed that we can best
understand the differences between individuals by understanding their
personality traits. Personality traits reflect basic dimensions on which people
differ (Matthews, Deary, & Whiteman, 2003). According to trait psychologists,
there are a limited number of these dimensions (dimensions like Extraversion,
Conscientiousness, or Agreeableness), and each individual falls somewhere on
each dimension, meaning that they could be low, medium, or high on any
specific trait.
An important feature of personality traits is that they reflect continuous
distributions rather than distinct personality types. This means that when
personality psychologists talk about Introverts and Extraverts, they are not
really talking about two distinct types of people who are completely and
qualitatively different from one another. Instead, they are talking about people
who score relatively low or relatively high along a continuous distribution. In
fact, when personality psychologists measure traits like Extraversion, they
typically find that most people score somewhere in the middle, with smaller
numbers showing more extreme levels. The figure below shows the distribution
of Extraversion scores from a survey of thousands of people. As you can see,
most people report being moderately, but not extremely, extraverted, with
nobaproject.com - Personality Traits
1377
fewer people reporting very high or very low scores.
Figure 1. Distribution of Extraversion Scores in a Sample Higher bars mean that more
people have scores of that level. This figure shows that most people score towards the middle
of the extraversion scale, with fewer people who are highly extraverted or highly introverted.
There are three criteria that are characterize personality traits: (1)
consistency, (2) stability, and (3) individual differences.
1. To have a personality trait, individuals must be somewhat consistent across
situations in their behaviors related to the trait. For example, if they are
talkative at home, they tend also to be talkative at work.
2. Individuals with a trait are also somewhat stable over time in behaviors
related to the trait. If they are talkative, for example, at age 30, they will also
tend to be talkative at age 40.
3. People differ from one another on behaviors related to the trait. Using
speech is not a personality trait and neither is walking on two feetvirtually
all individuals do these activities, and there are almost no individual
1378
differences. But people differ on how frequently they talk and how active
they are, and thus personality traits such as Talkativeness and Activity Level
do exist.
A challenge of the trait approach was to discover the major traits on which
all people differ. Scientists for many decades generated hundreds of new traits,
so that it was soon difficult to keep track and make sense of them. For instance,
one psychologist might focus on individual differences in friendliness,
whereas another might focus on the highly related concept of sociability.
Scientists began seeking ways to reduce the number of traits in some systematic
way and to discover the basic traits that describe most of the differences
between people.
The way that Gordon Allport and his colleague Henry Odbert approached
this was to search the dictionary for all descriptors of personality (Allport &
Odbert, 1936). Their approach was guided by the lexical hypothesis, which
states that all important personality characteristics should be reflected in the
language that we use to describe other people. Therefore, if we want to
understand the fundamental ways in which people differ from one another, we
can turn to the words that people use to describe one another. So if we want
to know what words people use to describe one another, where should we
look? Allport and Odbert looked in the most obvious placethe dictionary.
Specifically, they took all the personality descriptors that they could find in the
dictionary (they started with almost 18,000 words but quickly reduced that list
to a more manageable number) and then used statistical techniques to
determine which words went together. In other words, if everyone who said
that they were friendly also said that they were sociable, then this might
mean that personality psychologists would only need a single trait to capture
individual differences in these characteristics. Statistical techniques were used
to determine whether a small number of dimensions might underlie all of the
1379
thousands of words we use to describe people.
The Five-Factor Model of Personality

Research that used the lexical approach showed that many of the personality
descriptors found in the dictionary do indeed overlap. In other words, many of
the words that we use to describe people are synonyms. Thus, if we want to
know what a person is like, we do not necessarily need to ask how sociable they
are, how friendly they are, and how gregarious they are. Instead, because
sociable people tend to be friendly and gregarious, we can summarize this
personality dimension with a single term. Someone who is sociable, friendly,
and gregarious would typically be described as an Extravert. Once we know
she is an extravert, we can assume that she is sociable, friendly, and gregarious.
Statistical methods (specifically, a technique called factor analysis) helped
to determine whether a small number of dimensions underlie the diversity of
words that people like Allport and Odbert identified. The most widely accepted
system to emerge from this approach was The Big Five or Five-Factor Model
(Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1987). The Big Five
comprises five major traits shown in the figure below. A way to remember these
five is with the acronym OCEAN (O is for Openness; C is for Conscientiousness;
E is for Extraversion; A is for Agreeableness; N is for Neuroticism). Figure 2
provides descriptions of people who would score high and low on each of these
traits.
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Figure 2. Descriptions of the Big Five Personality Traits
Scores on the Big Five traits are mostly independent. That means that a
persons standing on one trait tells very little about their standing on the other
traits of the Big Five. For example, a person can be extremely high in Extraversion
and be either high or low on Neuroticism. Similarly, a person can be low in
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Agreeableness and be either high or low in Conscientiousness. Thus, in the FiveFactor Model, you need five scores to describe most of an individuals
personality.
In the Appendix to this module, we present a short scale to assess the FiveFactor Model of personality (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006). You can
take this test to see where you stand in terms of your Big Five scores. John
Johnson has also created a helpful website that has personality scales that can
be used and taken by the general public:
After seeing your scores, you can judge for yourself whether you think such
tests are valid.
Traits are important and interesting because they describe stable patterns
of behavior that persist for long periods of time (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005).
Importantly, these stable patterns can have broad-ranging consequences for
many areas of our life (Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007). For
instance, think about the factors that determine success in college. If you were
asked to guess what factors predict good grades in college, you might guess
something like intelligence. This guess would be correct, but we know much
more about who is likely to do well. Specifically, personality researchers have
also found the personality traits like Conscientiousness play an important role
in college and beyond, probably because highly conscientious individuals study
hard, get their work done on time, and are less distracted by nonessential
activities that take time away from school work. In addition, highly conscientious
people are often healthier than people low in conscientiousness because they
are more likely to maintain healthy diets, to exercise, and to follow basic safety
procedures like wearing seat belts or bicycle helmets. Over the long term, this
consistent pattern of behaviors can add up to meaningful differences in health
and longevity. Thus, personality traits are not just a useful way to describe
people you know; they actually help psychologists predict how good a worker
someone will be, how long he or she will live, and the types of jobs and activities
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the person will enjoy. Thus, there is growing interest in personality psychology
among psychologists who work in applied settings, such as health psychology
or organizational psychology.
Facets of Traits (Subtraits)

So how does it feel to be told that your entire personality can be summarized
with scores on just five personality traits? Do you think these five scores capture
the complexity of your own and others characteristic patterns of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors? Most people would probably say no, pointing to some
exception in their behavior that goes against the general pattern that others
might see. For instance, you may know people who are warm and friendly and
find it easy to talk with strangers at a party yet are terrified if they have to
perform in front of others or speak to large groups of people. The fact that there
are different ways of being extraverted or conscientious shows that there is
value in considering lower-level units of personality that are more specific than
the Big Five traits. These more specific, lower-level units of personality are often
called facets.
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Figure 3: Facets of Traits
To give you a sense of what these narrow units are like, Figure 3 shows facets
for each of the Big Five traits. It is important to note that although personality
researchers generally agree about the value of the Big Five traits as a way to
summarize ones personality, there is no widely accepted list of facets that
should be studied. The list below, based on work by researchers Paul Costa and
Jeff McCrae, thus reflects just one possible list among many. It should, however,
give you an idea of some of the facets making up each of the Five-Factor Model.
Facets can be useful because they provide more specific descriptions of what
a person is like. For instance, if we take our friend who loves parties but hates
public speaking, we might say that this person scores high on the
gregariousness and warmth facets of extraversion, while scoring lower on
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facets such as assertiveness or excitement-seeking. This precise profile of

facet scores not only provides a better description, it might also allow us to
better predict how this friend will do in a variety of different jobs (for example,
jobs that require public speaking versus jobs that involve one-on-one
interactions with customers; Paunonen & Ashton, 2001). Because different
facets within a broad, global trait like extraversion tend to go together (those
who are gregarious are often but not always assertive), the broad trait often
provides a useful summary of what a person is like. But when we really want
to know a person, facet scores add to our knowledge in important ways.
Other Traits Beyond the Five-Factor Model

Despite the popularity of the Five-Factor Model, it is certainly not the only model
that exists. Some suggest that there are more than five major traits, or perhaps
even fewer. For example, in one of the first comprehensive models to be
proposed, Hans Eysenck suggested that Extraversion and Neuroticism are most
important. Eysenck believed that by combining peoples standing on these two
major traits, we could account for many of the differences in personality that
we see in people (Eysenck, 1981). So for instance, a neurotic introvert would be
shy and nervous, while a stable introvert might avoid social situations and prefer
solitary activities, but he may do so with a calm, steady attitude and little anxiety
or emotion. Interestingly, Eysenck attempted to link these two major
dimensions to underlying differences in peoples biology. For instance, he
suggested that introverts experienced too much sensory stimulation and
arousal, which made them want to seek out quiet settings and less stimulating
environments. More recently, Jeffrey Grey suggested that these two broad traits
are related to fundamental reward and avoidance systems in the brain
extraverts might be motivated to seek reward and thus exhibit assertive,
reward-seeking behavior, whereas people high in neuroticism might be
motivated to avoid punishment and thus may experience anxiety as a result of
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their heightened awareness of the threats in the world around them (Gray,
1981. This model has since been updated; see Gray & McNaughton, 2000). These
early theories have led to a burgeoning interest in identifying the physiological
underpinnings of the individual differences that we observe.
Another revision of the Big Five is the HEXACO model of traits (Ashton &
Lee, 2007). This model is similar to the Big Five, but it posits slightly different
versions of some of the traits, and its proponents argue that one important
class of individual differences was omitted from the Five-Factor Model. The
HEXACO adds Honesty-Humility as a sixth dimension of personality. People high
in this trait are sincere, fair, and modest, whereas those low in the trait are
manipulative, narcissistic, and self-centered. Thus, trait theorists are agreed
that personality traits are important in understanding behavior, but there are
still debates on the exact number and composition of the traits that are most
important.
There are other important traits that are not included in comprehensive
models like the Big Five. Although the five factors capture much that is important
about personality, researchers have suggested other traits that capture
interesting aspects of our behavior. In Figure 4 below we present just a few, out
of hundreds, of the other traits that have been studied by personologists.
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Figure 4. Other Traits Beyond Those Included in the Big Five
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Not all of the above traits are currently popular with scientists, yet each of
them has experienced popularity in the past. Although the Five-Factor Model
has been the target of more rigorous research than some of the traits above,
these additional personality characteristics give a good idea of the wide range
of behaviors and attitudes that traits can cover.
The Person-Situation Debate and Alternatives to the

Trait Perspective
The ideas described in this module should probably seem familiar, if not obvious
to you. When asked to think about what our friends, enemies, family members,
and colleagues are like, some of the first things that come to mind are their
personality characteristics. We might think about how warm and helpful our
first teacher was, how irresponsible and careless our brother is, or how
demanding and insulting our first boss was. Each of these descriptors reflects
a personality trait, and most of us generally think that the descriptions that we
use for individuals accurately reflect their characteristic pattern of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors, or in other words, their personality.
But what if this idea were wrong? What if our belief in personality traits were
an illusion and people are not consistent from one situation to the next? This
was a possibility that shook the foundation of personality psychology in the late
1960s when Walter Mischel published a book called Personality and Assessment
(1968). In this book, Mischel suggested that if one looks closely at peoples
behavior across many different situations, the consistency is really not that
impressive. In other words, children who cheat on tests at school may
steadfastly follow all rules when playing games and may never tell a lie to their
parents. In other words, he suggested, there may not be any general trait of
honesty that links these seemingly related behaviors. Furthermore, Mischel
suggested that observers may believe that broad personality traits like honesty
exist, when in fact, this belief is an illusion. The debate that followed the
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publication of Mischels book was called the person-situation debate because

it pitted the power of personality against the power of situational factors as
determinants of the behavior that people exhibit.
Because of the findings that Mischel emphasized, many psychologists
focused on an alternative to the trait perspective. Instead of studying broad,
context-free descriptions, like the trait terms weve described so far, Mischel
thought that psychologists should focus on peoples distinctive reactions to
specific situations. For instance, although there may not be a broad and general
trait of honesty, some children may be especially likely to cheat on a test when
the risk of being caught is low and the rewards for cheating are high. Others
might be motivated by the sense of risk involved in cheating and may do so
even when the rewards are not very high. Thus, the behavior itself results from
the childs unique evaluation of the risks and rewards present at that moment,
along with her evaluation of her abilities and values. Because of this, the same
child might act very differently in different situations. Thus, Mischel thought
that specific behaviors were driven by the interaction between very specific,
psychologically meaningful features of the situation in which people found
themselves, the persons unique way of perceiving that situation, and his or her
abilities for dealing with it. Mischel and others argued that it was these socialcognitive processes that underlie peoples reactions to specific situations that
provide some consistency when situational features are the same. If so, then
studying these broad traits might be more fruitful than cataloging and
measuring narrow, context-free traits like Extraversion or Neuroticism.
In the years after the publication of Mischels (1968) book, debates raged
about whether personality truly exists, and if so, how it should be studied. And,
as is often the case, it turns out that a more moderate middle ground than what
the situationists proposed could be reached. It is certainly true, as Mischel
pointed out, that a persons behavior in one specific situation is not a good
guide to how that person will behave in a very different specific situation.
Someone who is extremely talkative at one specific party may sometimes be
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reticent to speak up during class and may even act like a wallflower at a different
party. But this does not mean that personality does not exist, nor does it mean
that peoples behavior is completely determined by situational factors. Indeed,
research conducted after the person-situation debate shows that on average,
the effect of the situation is about as large as that of personality traits.
However, it is also true that if psychologists assess a broad range of behaviors
across many different situations, there are general tendencies that emerge.
Personality traits give an indication about how people will act on average, but
frequently they are not so good at predicting how a person will act in a specific
situation at a certain moment in time. Thus, to best capture broad traits, one
must assess aggregate behaviors, averaged over time and across many different
types of situations. Most modern personality researchers agree that there is a
place for broad personality traits and for the narrower units such as those
studied by Walter Mischel.
Appendix
The Mini-IPIP Scale
(Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006)
Instructions: Below are phrases describing peoples behaviors. Please use
the rating scale below to describe how accurately each statement describes
you. Describe yourself as you generally are now, not as you wish to be in the
future. Describe yourself as you honestly see yourself, in relation to other
people you know of the same sex as you are, and roughly your same age. Please
read each statement carefully, and put a number from 1 to 5 next to it to describe
how accurately the statement describes you.
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1 = Very inaccurate
2 = Moderately inaccurate
3 = Neither inaccurate nor accurate
4 = Moderately accurate
5 = Very accurate
1. _______ Am the life of the party (E)
2. _______ Sympathize with others feelings (A)
3. _______ Get chores done right away (C)
4. _______ Have frequent mood swings (N)
5. _______ Have a vivid imagination (O)
6. _______Dont talk a lot (E)
7. _______ Am not interested in other peoples problems (A)
8. _______ Often forget to put things back in their proper place (C)
9. _______ Am relaxed most of the time (N)
10. ______ Am not interested in abstract ideas (O)
11. ______ Talk to a lot of different people at parties (E)
12. ______ Feel others emotions (A)
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13. ______ Like order (C)
14. ______ Get upset easily (N)
15. ______ Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas (O)
16. ______ Keep in the background (E)
17. ______ Am not really interested in others (A)
18. ______ Make a mess of things (C)
19. ______ Seldom feel blue (N)
20. ______ Do not have a good imagination (O)
Scoring: The first thing you must do is to reverse the items that are worded
in the opposite direction. In order to do this, subtract the number you put for
that item from 6. So if you put a 4, for instance, it will become a 2. Cross out the
score you put when you took the scale, and put the new number in representing
your score subtracted from the number 6.
Items to be reversed in this way: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Next, you need to add up the scores for each of the five OCEAN scales
(including the reversed numbers where relevant). Each OCEAN score will be the
sum of four items. Place the sum next to each scale below.
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__________ Openness: Add items 5, 10, 15, 20

__________ Conscientiousness: Add items 3, 8, 13, 18
__________ Extraversion: Add items 1, 6, 11, 16
__________ Agreeableness: Add items 2, 7, 12, 17
__________ Neuroticism: Add items 4, 9,14, 19
Compare your scores to the norms below to see where you stand on each
scale. If you are low on a trait, it means you are the opposite of the trait label.
For example, low on Extraversion is Introversion, low on Openness is
Conventional, and low on Agreeableness is Assertive.
1920 Extremely High
1718 Very High
1416 High
1113 Neither high nor low; in the middle
810 Low
67 Very low
45 Extremely low
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Outside Resources
Web: International Personality Item Pool
http://ipip.ori.org/
Web: John Johnson personality scales
http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/ipipneo120.htm
Web: Personality trait systems compared
http://www.personalityresearch.org/bigfive/goldberg.html
Web: Sam Gosling website
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/gosling/samgosling.htm
1. Consider different combinations of the Big Five, such as O (Low), C (High),
E (Low), A (High), and N (Low). What would this person be like? Do you know
anyone who is like this? Can you select politicians, movie stars, and other
famous people and rate them on the Big Five?
2. How do you think learning and inherited personality traits get combined in
adult personality?
3. Can you think of instances where people do not act consistentlywhere
their personality traits are not good predictors of their behavior?
4. Has your personality changed over time, and in what ways?
5. Can you think of a personality trait not mentioned in this chapter that
describes how people differ from one another?
6. When do extremes in personality traits become harmful, and when are they
unusual but productive of good outcomes?
Vocabulary
Agreeableness
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to be compassionate,
cooperative, warm, and caring to others. People low in agreeableness tend to
be rude, hostile, and to pursue their own interests over those of others.
Conscientiousness
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to be careful, organized,
hardworking, and to follow rules.
Continuous distributions
Characteristics can go from low to high, with all different intermediate values
possible. One does not simply have the trait or not have it, but can possess
varying amounts of it.
Extraversion
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to be sociable, outgoing,
active, and assertive.
Facets
Broad personality traits can be broken down into narrower facets or aspects of
the trait. For example, extraversion has several facets, such as sociability,
dominance, risk-taking and so forth.
Factor analysis
A statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to how
highly they are associated.
Five-Factor Model
(also called the Big Five) The Five-Factor Model is a widely accepted model of
personality traits. Advocates of the model believe that much of the variability
in peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can be summarized with five broad
traits. These five traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion,
Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
HEXACO model
The HEXACO model is an alternative to the Five-Factor Model. The HEXACO
model includes six traits, five of which are variants of the traits included in the
Big Five (Emotionality [E], Extraversion [X], Agreeableness [A], Conscientiousness
[C], and Openness [O]). The sixth factor, Honesty-Humility [H], is unique to this
model.
Independent
Two characteristics or traits are separate from one another-- a person can be
high on one and low on the other, or vice-versa. Some correlated traits are
relatively independent in that although there is a tendency for a person high
on one to also be high on the other, this is not always the case.
Lexical hypothesis
The lexical hypothesis is the idea that the most important differences between
people will be encoded in the language that we use to describe people.
Therefore, if we want to know which personality traits are most important, we
can look to the language that people use to describe themselves and others.
Neuroticism
A personality trait that reflects the tendency to be interpersonally sensitive and
the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, sadness, and
anger.
Openness to Experience
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to seek out and to appreciate
new things, including thoughts, feelings, values, and experiences.
Personality
Enduring predispositions that characterize a person, such as styles of thought,
feelings and behavior.
Personality traits
Enduring dispositions in behavior that show differences across individuals, and
which tend to characterize the person across varying types of situations.
Person-situation debate
The person-situation debate is a historical debate about the relative power of
personality traits as compared to situational influences on behavior. The
situationist critique, which started the person-situation debate, suggested that
people overestimate the extent to which personality traits are consistent across
situations.
Reference List
Allport, G. W., & Odbert, H. S. (1936). Trait names: A psycholexical study.
Psychological Monographs, 47, 211.
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages
of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Social
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability
and change. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 56, 453484.
Donnellan, M. B., Oswald, F. L., Baird, B. M., & Lucas, R. E. (2006). The mini-IPIP
scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality.
Psychological Assessment, 18, 192203.
Eysenck, H. J. (1981). A model for personality.New York: Springer Verlag.
Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative description of personality: The Big Five
personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1216
1229.
Gray, J. A. (1981). A critique of Eysencks theory of personality. In H. J. Eysenck
(Ed.), A Model for Personality (pp. 246-276). New York: Springer Verlag.
Gray, J. A. & McNaughton, N. (2000). The neuropsychology of anxiety: An enquiry
into the functions of the septo-hippocampal system (second edition).
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Matthews, G., Deary, I.
J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2003). Personality traits.

McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of
personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and
McCrae, R. R. & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and
its applications. Journal of Personality, 60, 175215.
Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York: John Wiley.
Paunonen, S. V., & Ashton, M. S. (2001). Big five factors and facets and the
prediction of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81,
524539.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Golberg, L. R. (2007). The
outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 313-345.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Personality Traits by Edward Diener and Richard
E. Lucas is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Self and Identity

Dan P. McAdams
Northwestern University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
For human beings, the self is what happens when I encounters Me. The
central psychological question of selfhood, then, is this: How does a person
apprehend and understand who he or she is? Over the past 100 years,
psychologists have approached the study of self (and the related concept of
identity) in many different ways, but three central metaphors for the self
repeatedly emerge. First, the self may be seen as a social actor, who enacts
roles and displays traits by performing behaviors in the presence of others.
Second, the self is a motivated agent, who acts upon inner desires and
formulates goals, values, and plans to guide behavior in the future. Third, the
self eventually becomes an autobiographical author, too, who takes stock of
lifepast, present, and futureto create a story about who I am, how I came
to be, and where my life may be going. This chapter briefly reviews central ideas
and research findings on the self as an actor, an agent, and an author, with an
emphasis on how these features of selfhood develop over the human life
course.
Learning Objectives
Explain the basic idea of reflexivity in human selfhoodhow the I

encounters and makes sense of itself (the Me).
Describe fundamental distinctions between three different perspectives on

the self: the self as actor, agent, and author.
Describe how a sense of self as a social actor emerges around the age of 2
years and how it develops going forward.
Describe the development of the selfs sense of motivated agency from the
emergence of the childs theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and
values in adolescence and beyond.
Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and
cultural functions narrative identity serves.
Introduction
In the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the ancient Greeks inscribed the words: Know
thyself. For at least 2,500 years, and probably longer, human beings have
pondered the meaning of the ancient aphorism. Over the past century,
psychological scientists have joined the effort. They have formulated many
theories and tested countless hypotheses that speak to the central question of
human selfhood: How does a person know who he or she is?
The ancient Greeks seemed to realize that the self is inherently reflexive
it reflects back on itself. In the disarmingly simple idea made famous by the
great psychologist William James (1892/1963), the self is what happens when
I reflects back upon Me. The self is both the I and the Meit is the knower,
and it is what the knower knows when the knower reflects upon itself. When
you look back at yourself, what do you see? When you look inside, what do you
find? Moreover, when you try to change your self in some way, what is it that
you are trying to change? The philosopher Charles Taylor (1989) describes the
self as a reflexive project. In modern life, Taylor agues, we often try to manage,
discipline, refine, improve, or develop the self. We work on our selves, as we
might work on any other interesting project. But what exactly is it that we work
on?
Imagine for a moment that you have decided to improve yourself. You might,
say, go on a diet to improve your appearance. Or you might decide to be nicer
to your mother, in order to improve that important social role. Or maybe the
problem is at workyou need to find a better job or go back to school to prepare
for a different career. Perhaps you just need to work harder. Or get organized.
Or recommit yourself to religion. Or maybe the key is to begin thinking about
your whole life story in a completely different way, in a way that you hope will
bring you more happiness, fulfillment, peace, or excitement.
nobaproject.com - Self and Identity
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Although there are many different ways you might reflect upon and try to
improve the self, it turns out that many, if not most, of them fall roughly into
three broad psychological categories (McAdams & Cox, 2010). The I may
encounter the Me as (a) a social actor, (b) a motivated agent, or (c) an
autobiographical author.
The Social Actor

Shakespeare tapped into a deep truth about human nature when he famously
wrote, All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. He
was wrong about the merely, however, for there is nothing more important
for human adaptation than the manner in which we perform our roles as actors
in the everyday theatre of social life. What Shakespeare may have sensed but
could not have fully understood is that human beings evolved to live in social
groups. Beginning with Darwin (1872/1965) and running through contemporary
conceptions of human evolution, scientists have portrayed human nature as
profoundly social (Wilson, 2012). For a few million years, Homo sapiens and
their evolutionary forerunners have survived and flourished by virtue of their
ability to live and work together in complex social groups, cooperating with each
other to solve problems and overcome threats and competing with each other
in the face of limited resources. As social animals, human beings strive to get
along and get ahead in the presence of each other (Hogan, 1982). Evolution has
prepared us to care deeply about social acceptance and social status, for those
unfortunate individuals who do not get along well in social groups or who fail
to attain a requisite status among their peers have typically been severely
compromised when it comes to survival and reproduction. It makes
consummate evolutionary sense, therefore, that the human I should apprehend
the Me first and foremost as a social actor.
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For human beings, the sense of the self as a social actor begins to emerge
around the age of 18 months. Numerous studies have shown that by the time
they reach their second birthday most toddlers recognize themselves in mirrors
and other reflecting devices (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979; Rochat, 2003). What
they see is an embodied actor who moves through space and time. Many
children begin to use words such as me and mine in the second year of life,
suggesting that the I now has linguistic labels that can be applied reflexively to
itself: I call myself me. Around the same time, children also begin to express
social emotions such as embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride (Tangney,
Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). These emotions tell the social actor how well he or
she is performing in the group. When I do things that win the approval of others,
I feel proud of myself. When I fail in the presence of others, I may feel
embarrassment or shame. When I violate a social rule, I may experience guilt,
which may motivate me to make amends.
Many of the classic psychological theories of human selfhood point to the
second year of life as a key developmental period. For example, Freud
(1923/1961) and his followers in the psychoanalytic tradition traced the
emergence of an autonomous ego back to the second year. Freud used the
term ego (in German das Ich, which also translates into the I) to refer to an
executive self in the personality. Erikson (1963) argued that experiences of trust
and interpersonal attachment in the first year of life help to consolidate the
autonomy of the ego in the second. Coming from a more sociological
perspective, Mead (1934) suggested that the I comes to know the Me through
reflection, which may begin quite literally with mirrors but later involves the
reflected appraisals of others. I come to know who I am as a social actor, Mead
argued, by noting how other people in my social world react to my
performances. In the development of the self as a social actor, other people
function like mirrorsthey reflect who I am back to me.
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Research has shown that when young children begin to make attributions
about themselves, they start simple (Harter, 2006). At age 4, Jessica knows that
she has dark hair, knows that she lives in a white house, and describes herself
to others in terms of simple behavioral traits. She may say that she is nice, or
helpful, or that she is a good girl most of the time. By the time, she hits fifth
grade (age 10), Jessica sees herself in more complex ways, attributing traits to
the self such as honest, moody, outgoing, shy, hard-working, smart,
good at math but not gym class, or nice except when I am around my annoying
brother. By late childhood and early adolescence, the personality traits that
people attribute to themselves, as well as those attributed to them by others,
tend to correlate with each other in ways that conform to a well-established
taxonomy of five broad trait domains, repeatedly derived in studies of adult
personality and often called the Big Five: (1) extraversion, (2) neuroticism, (3)
agreeableness, (4) conscientiousness, and (5) openness to experience (Roberts,
Wood, & Caspi, 2008). By late childhood, moreover, self-conceptions will likely
also include important social roles: I am a good student, I am the oldest
daughter, or I am a good friend to Sarah.
Traits and roles, and variations on these notions, are the main currency of
the self as social actor (McAdams & Cox, 2010). Trait terms capture perceived
consistencies in social performance. They convey what I reflexively perceive to
be my overall acting style, based in part on how I think others see me as an
actor in many different social situations. Roles capture the quality, as I perceive
it, of important structured relationships in my life. Taken together, traits and
roles make up the main features of my social reputation, as I apprehend it in
my own mind (Hogan, 1982).
If you have ever tried hard to change yourself, you may have taken aim at
your social reputation, targeting your central traits or your social roles. Maybe
you woke up one day and decided that you must become a more optimistic
and emotionally upbeat person. Taking into consideration the reflected
appraisals of others, you realized that even your friends seem to avoid you
1408
because you bring them down. In addition, it feels bad to feel so bad all the
time: Wouldnt it be better to feel good, to have more energy and hope? In the
language of traits, you have decided to work on your neuroticism. Or maybe
instead, your problem is the trait of conscientiousness: You are undisciplined
and dont work hard enough, so you resolve to make changes in that area. Selfimprovement efforts such as theseaimed at changing ones traits to become
a more effective social actorare sometimes successful, but they are very hard
kind of like dieting. Research suggests that broad traits tend to be stubborn,
resistant to change, even with the aid of psychotherapy. However, people often
have more success working directly on their social roles. To become a more
effective social actor, you may want to take aim at the important roles you play
in life. What can I do to become a better son or daughter? How can I find new
and meaningful roles to perform at work, or in my family, or among my friends,
or in my church and community? By doing concrete things that enrich your
performances in important social roles, you may begin to see yourself in a new
light, and others will notice the change, too. Social actors hold the potential to
transform their performances across the human life course. Each time you walk
out on stage, you have a chance to start anew.
The Motivated Agent

Whether we are talking literally about the theatrical stage or more figuratively,
as I do in this chapter, about the everyday social environment for human
behavior, observers can never fully know what is in the actors head, no matter
how closely they watch. We can see actors act, but we cannot know for sure
what they want or what they value, unless they tell us straightaway. As a social
actor, a person may come across as friendly and compassionate, or cynical and
mean-spirited, but in neither case can we infer their motivations from their
traits or their roles. What does the friendly person want? What is the cynical
father trying to achieve? Many broad psychological theories of the self prioritize
1409
the motivational qualities of human behaviorthe inner needs, wants, desires,

goals, values, plans, programs, fears, and aversions that seem to give behavior
its direction and purpose (Bandura, 1989; Deci & Ryan, 1991; Markus & Nurius,
1986). These kinds of theories explicitly conceive of the self as a motivated agent.
To be an agent is to act with direction and purpose, to move forward into
the future in pursuit of self-chosen and valued goals. In a sense, human beings
are agents even as infants, for babies can surely act in goal-directed ways. By
age 1 year, moreover, infants show a strong preference for observing and
imitating the goal-directed, intentional behavior of others, rather than random
behaviors (Woodward, 2009). Still, it is one thing to act in goal-directed ways; it
is quite another for the I to know itself (the Me) as an intentional and purposeful
force who moves forward in life in pursuit of self-chosen goals, values, and
other desired end states. In order to do so, the person must first realize that
people indeed have desires and goals in their minds and that these inner desires
and goals motivate (initiate, energize, put into motion) their behavior. According
to a strong line of research in developmental psychology, attaining this kind of
understanding means acquiring a theory of mind (Wellman, 1993), which
occurs for most children by the age of 4. Once a child understands that other
peoples behavior is often motivated by inner desires and goals, it is a small
step to apprehend the self in similar terms.
Building on theory of mind and other cognitive and social developments,
children begin to construct the self as a motivated agent in the elementary
school years, layered over their still-developing sense of themselves as social
actors. Theory and research on what developmental psychologists call the age
5-to-7 shift converge to suggest that children become more planful, intentional,
and systematic in their pursuit of valued goals during this time (Sameroff &
Haith, 1996). Schooling reinforces the shift in that teachers and curricula place
increasing demands on students to work hard, adhere to schedules, focus on
goals, and achieve success in particular, well-defined task domains. Their
relative success in achieving their most cherished goals, furthermore, goes a
1410
long way in determining childrens self-esteem (Robins, Tracy, & Trzesniewski,

2008). Motivated agents feel good about themselves to the extent they believe
that they are making good progress in achieving their goals and advancing their
most important values.
Goals and values become even more important for the self in adolescence,
as teenagers begin to confront what Erikson (1963) famously termed the
developmental challenge of identity. For adolescents and young adults,
establishing a psychologically efficacious identity involves exploring different
options with respect to life goals, values, vocations, and intimate relationships
and eventually committing to a motivational and ideological agenda for adult
lifean integrated and realistic sense of what I want and value in life and how
I plan to achieve it (Kroger & Marcia, 2011). Committing oneself to an integrated
suite of life goals and values is perhaps the greatest achievement for the self
as motivated agent. Establishing an adult identity has implications, as well, for
how a person moves through life as a social actor, entailing new role
commitments and, perhaps, a changing understanding of ones basic
dispositional traits. According to Erikson, however, identity achievement is
always provisional, for adults continue to work on their identities as they move
into midlife and beyond, often relinquishing old goals in favor of new ones,
investing themselves in new projects and making new plans, exploring new
relationships, and shifting their priorities in response to changing life
circumstances (Freund & Riediger, 2006; Josselson, 1996).
There is a sense whereby any time you try to change yourself, you are
assuming the role of a motivated agent. After all, to strive to change something
is inherently what an agent does. However, what particular feature of selfhood
you try to change may correspond to your self as actor, agent, or author, or
some combination. When you try to change your traits or roles, you take aim
at the social actor. By contrast, when you try to change your values or life goals,
you are focusing on yourself as a motivated agent. Adolescence and young
adulthood are periods in the human life course when many of us focus attention
1411
on our values and life goals. Perhaps you grew up as a traditional Catholic, but
now in college you believe that the values inculcated in your childhood no longer
function so well for you. You no longer believe in the central tenets of the
Catholic Church, say, and are now working to replace your old values with new
ones. Or maybe you still want to be Catholic, but you feel that your new take
on faith requires a different kind of personal ideology. In the realm of the
motivated agent, moreover, changing values can influence life goals. If your
new value system prioritizes alleviating the suffering of others, you may decide
to pursue a degree in social work, or to become a public interest lawyer, or to
live a simpler life that prioritizes people over material wealth. A great deal of
the identity work we do in adolescence and young adulthood is about values
and goals, as we strive to articulate a personal vision or dream for what we
hope to accomplish in the future.
The Autobiographical Author

Even as the Icontinues to develop a sense of the Me as both a social actor
and a motivated agent, a third standpoint for selfhood gradually emerges in
the adolescent and early-adult years. The third perspective is a response to
Eriksons (1963) challenge of identity. According to Erikson, developing an
identity involves more than the exploration of and commitment to life goals
and values (the self as motivated agent), and more than committing to new
roles and re-evaluating old traits (the self as social actor). It also involves
achieving a sense of temporal continuity in lifea reflexive understanding of
how I have come to be the person I am becoming, or put differently, how my
past self has developed into my present self, and how my present self will, in
turn, develop into an envisioned future self. In his analysis of identity formation
in the life of the 15th-century Protestant reformer Martin Luther, Erikson (1958)
describes the culmination of a young adults search for identity in this way:
1412
In this rich passage, Erikson intimates that the development of a mature

identity in young adulthood involves the Is ability to construct a retrospective
and prospective story about the Me (McAdams, 1985). In their efforts to find a
meaningful identity for life, young men and women begin to selectively
reconstruct their past, as Erikson wrote, and imagine their future to create an
integrative life story, or what psychologists today often call a narrative identity.
A narrative identity is an internalized and evolving story of the self that
reconstructs the past and anticipates the future in such a way as to provide a
persons life with some degree of unity, meaning, and purpose over time
(McAdams, 2008; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals, 2007). The self typically becomes
an autobiographical author in the early-adult years, a way of being that is layered
over the motivated agent, which is layered over the social actor. In order to
provide life with the sense of temporal continuity and deep meaning that
Erikson believed identity should confer, we must author a personalized life story
that integrates our understanding of who we once were, who we are today, and
who we may become in the future. The story helps to explain, for the author
and for the authors world, why the social actor does what it does and why the
motivated agent wants what it wants, and how the person as a whole has
developed over time, from the pasts reconstructed beginning to the futures
imagined ending.
By the time they are 5 or 6 years of age, children can tell well-formed stories
about personal events in their lives (Fivush, 2011). By the end of childhood, they
usually have a good sense of what a typical biography contains and how it is
sequenced, from birth to death (Thomsen & Bernsten, 2008). But it is not until
adolescence, research shows, that human beings express advanced storytelling
skills and what psychologists call autobiographical reasoning (Habermas &
Bluck, 2000; McLean & Fournier, 2008). In autobiographical reasoning, a
narrator is able to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analyzing
his or her own personal experiences. Adolescents may develop the ability to
string together events into causal chains and inductively derive general themes
1413
about life from a sequence of chapters and scenes (Habermas & de Silveira,
2008). For example, a 16-year-old may be able to explain to herself and to others
how childhood experiences in her family have shaped her vocation in life. Her
parents were divorced when she was 5 years old, the teenager recalls, and this
caused a great deal of stress in her family. Her mother often seemed anxious
and depressed, but she (the now-teenager when she was a little girlthe storys
protagonist) often tried to cheer her mother up, and her efforts seemed to
work. In more recent years, the teenager notes that her friends often come to
her with their boyfriend problems. She seems to be very adept at giving advice
about love and relationships, which stems, the teenager now believes, from her
early experiences with her mother. Carrying this causal narrative forward, the
teenager now thinks that she would like to be a marriage counselor when she
grows up.
Unlike children, then, adolescents can tell a full and convincing story about
an entire human life, or at least a prominent line of causation within a full life,
explaining continuity and change in the storys protagonist over time. Once the
cognitive skills are in place, young people seek interpersonal opportunities to
share and refine their developing sense of themselves as storytellers (the I) who
tell stories about themselves (the Me). Adolescents and young adults author a
narrative sense of the self by telling stories about their experiences to other
people, monitoring the feedback they receive from the tellings, editing their
stories in light of the feedback, gaining new experiences and telling stories about
those, and on and on, as selves create stories that, in turn, create new selves
(McLean et al., 2007). Gradually, in fits and starts, through conversation and
introspection, the I develops a convincing and coherent narrative about the Me.
Contemporary research on the self as autobiographical author emphasizes
the strong effect of culture on narrative identity (Hammack, 2008). Culture
provides a menu of favored plot lines, themes, and character types for the
construction of self-defining life stories. Autobiographical authors sample
selectively from the cultural menu, appropriating ideas that seem to resonate
1414
well with their own life experiences. As such, life stories reflect the culture,
wherein they are situated as much as they reflect the authorial efforts of the
autobiographical I.
As one example of the tight link between culture and narrative identity,
McAdams (2013) and others (e.g., Kleinfeld, 2012) have highlighted the
prominence of redemptive narratives in American culture. Epitomized in such
iconic cultural ideals as the American dream, Horatio Alger stories, and
narratives of Christian atonement, redemptive stories track the move from
suffering to an enhanced status or state, while scripting the development of a
chosen protagonist who journeys forth into a dangerous and unredeemed
world (McAdams, 2013). Hollywood movies often celebrate redemptive quests.
Americans are exposed to similar narrative messages in self-help books, 12step programs, Sunday sermons, and in the rhetoric of political campaigns.
Over the past two decades, the worlds most influential spokesperson for the
power of redemption in human lives may be Oprah Winfrey, who tells her own
story of overcoming childhood adversity while encouraging others, through her
media outlets and philanthropy, to tell similar kinds of stories for their own lives
(McAdams, 2013). Research has demonstrated that American adults who enjoy
high levels of mental health and civic engagement tend to construct their lives
as narratives of redemption, tracking the move from sin to salvation, rags to
riches, oppression to liberation, or sickness/abuse to health/recovery
(McAdams, Diamond, de St. Aubin, & Mansfield, 1997; McAdams, Reynolds,
Lewis, Patten, & Bowman, 2001; Walker & Frimer, 2007). In American society,
these kinds of stories are often seen to be inspirational.
At the same time, McAdams (2011, 2013) has pointed to shortcomings and
limitations in the redemptive stories that many Americans tell, which mirror
cultural biases and stereotypes in American culture and heritage. McAdams
has argued that redemptive stories support happiness and societal
engagement for some Americans, but the same stories can encourage moral
righteousness and a nave expectation that suffering will always be redeemed.
1415
For better and sometimes for worse, Americans seem to love stories of personal
redemption and often aim to assimilate their autobiographical memories and
aspirations to a redemptive form. Nonetheless, these same stories may not
work so well in cultures that espouse different values and narrative ideals
(Hammack, 2008). It is important to remember that every culture offers its own
storehouse of favored narrative forms. It is also essential to know that no single
narrative form captures all that is good (or bad) about a culture. In American
society, the redemptive narrative is but one of many different kinds of stories
that people commonly employ to make sense of their lives.
What is your story? What kind of a narrative are you working on? As you look
to the past and imagine the future, what threads of continuity, change, and
meaning do you discern? For many people, the most dramatic and fulfilling
efforts to change the self happen when the I works hard, as an autobiographical
author, to construct and, ultimately, to tell a new story about the Me. Storytelling
may be the most powerful form of self-transformation that human beings have
ever invented. Changing ones life story is at the heart of many forms of
psychotherapy and counseling, as well as religious conversions, vocational
epiphanies, and other dramatic transformations of the self that people often
celebrate as turning points in their lives (Adler, 2012). Storytelling is often at
the heart of the little changes, too, minor edits in the self that we make as we
move through daily life, as we live and experience life, and as we later tell it to
ourselves and to others.
Conclusion
For human beings, selves begin as social actors, but they eventually become
motivated agents and autobiographical authors, too. The I first sees itself as an
embodied actor in social space; with development, however, it comes to
appreciate itself also as a forward-looking source of self-determined goals and
values, and later yet, as a storyteller of personal experience, oriented to the
1416
reconstructed past and the imagined future. To know thyself in mature

adulthood, then, is to do three things: (a) to apprehend and to perform with
social approval my self-ascribed traits and roles, (b) to pursue with vigor and
(ideally) success my most valued goals and plans, and (c) to construct a story
about life that conveys, with vividness and cultural resonance, how I became
the person I am becoming, integrating my past as I remember it, my present
as I am experiencing it, and my future as I hope it to be.
1417
Outside Resources
Web: The website for the Foley Center for the Study of Lives, at Northwestern
University. The site contains research materials, interview protocols, and
coding manuals for conducting studies of narrative identity.
http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/foley/
1. Back in the 1950s, Erik Erikson argued that many adolescents and young
adults experience a tumultuous identity crisis. Do you think this is true
today? What might an identity crisis look and feel like? And, how might it be
resolved?
2. Many people believe that they have a true self buried inside of them. From
this perspective, the development of self is about discovering a
psychological truth deep inside. Do you believe this to be true? How does
thinking about the self as an actor, agent, and author bear on this question?
3. Psychological research shows that when people are placed in front of
mirrors they often behave in a more moral and conscientious manner, even
though they sometimes experience this procedure as unpleasant. From the
standpoint of the self as a social actor, how might we explain this
phenomenon?
4. By the time they reach adulthood, does everybody have a narrative identity?
Do some people simply never develop a story for their life?
5. What happens when the three perspectives on selfthe self as actor, agent,
and authorconflict with each other? Is it necessary for peoples selfascribed traits and roles to line up well with their goals and their stories?
6. William James wrote that the self includes all things that the person
considers to be mine. If we take James literally, a persons self might extend
to include his or her material possessions, pets, and friends and family.
Does this make sense?
7. To what extent can we control the self? Are some features of selfhood easier
to control than others?
8. What cultural differences may be observed in the construction of the self?
How might gender, ethnicity, and class impact the development of the self
as actor, as agent, and as author?
Vocabulary
Autobiographical reasoning
The ability, typically developed in adolescence, to derive substantive
conclusions about the self from analyzing ones own personal experiences.
Big Five
A broad taxonomy of personality trait domains repeatedly derived from studies
of trait ratings in adulthood and encompassing the categories of (1) extraversion
vs. introversion, (2) neuroticism vs. emotional stability, (3) agreeable vs.
disagreeableness, (4) conscientiousness vs. nonconscientiousness, and (5)
openness to experience vs. conventionality. By late childhood and early
adolescence, peoples self-attributions of personality traits, as well as the trait
attributions made about them by others, show patterns of intercorrelations
that confirm with the five-factor structure obtained in studies of adults.
Ego
Sigmund Freuds conception of an executive self in the personality. Akin to this
chapters notion of the I, Freud imagined the ego as observing outside reality,
engaging in rational though, and coping with the competing demands of inner
desires and moral standards.
Identity
Sometimes used synonymously with the term self, identity means many
different things in psychological science and in other fields (e.g., sociology). In
this chapter, I adopt Erik Eriksons conception of identity as a developmental
task for late adolescence and young adulthood. Forming an identity in
adolescence and young adulthood involves exploring alternative roles, values,
goals, and relationships and eventually committing to a realistic agenda for life
that productively situates a person in the adult world of work and love. In
addition, identity formation entails commitments to new social roles and

reevaluation of old traits, and importantly, it brings with it a sense of temporal
continuity in life, achieved though the construction of an integrative life story.
Narrative identity
An internalized and evolving story of the self designed to provide life with some
measure of temporal unity and purpose. Beginning in late adolescence, people
craft self-defining stories that reconstruct the past and imagine the future to
explain how the person came to be the person that he or she is becoming.
Redemptive narratives
Life stories that affirm the transformation from suffering to an enhanced status
or state. In American culture, redemptive life stories are highly prized as models
for the good self, as in classic narratives of atonement, upward mobility,
liberation, and recovery.
Reflexivity
The idea that the self reflects back upon itself; that the I (the knower, the subject)
encounters the Me (the known, the object). Reflexivity is a fundamental property
of human selfhood.
Self as autobiographical author
The sense of the self as a storyteller who reconstructs the past and imagines
the future in order to articulate an integrative narrative that provides life with
some measure of temporal continuity and purpose.
Self as motivated agent
The sense of the self as an intentional force that strives to achieve goals, plans,
values, projects, and the like.
Self as social actor

The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be
construed in terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social
roles.
Self-esteem
The extent to which a person feels that he or she is worthy and good. The
success or failure that the motivated agent experiences in pursuit of valued
goals is a strong determinant of self-esteem.
Social reputation
The traits and social roles that others attribute to an actor. Actors also have
their own conceptions of what they imagine their respective social reputations
indeed are in the eyes of others.
The Age 5-to-7 Shift
Cognitive and social changes that occur in the early elementary school years
that result in the childs developing a more purposeful, planful, and goaldirected approach to life, setting the stage for the emergence of the self as a
motivated agent.
The I
The self as knower, the sense of the self as a subject who encounters (knows,
works on) itself (the Me).
The Me
The self as known, the sense of the self as the object or target of the Is knowledge
and work.
Theory of mind
Emerging around the age of 4, the childs understanding that other people have
minds in which are located desires and beliefs, and that desires and beliefs,
thereby, motivate behavior.
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Gender
Christia Spears Brown & Jennifer A. Jewell
University of Kentucky
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter discusses gender and its related concepts, including sex, gender
roles, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexism. In addition, this chapter
includes a discussion of differences that exist between males and females and
how these real gender differences compare to the stereotypes society holds
about gender differences. In fact, there are significantly fewer real gender
differences than one would expect relative to the large number of stereotypes
about gender differences. This chapter then discusses theories of how gender
roles develop and how they contribute to strong expectations for gender
differences. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the
consequences of relying on and expecting gender differences, such as gender
discrimination, sexual harassment, and ambivalent sexism.
Learning Objectives
Distinguish gender and sex, as well as gender identity and sexual

orientation.
Discuss gender differences that exist, as well as those that do not actually
exist.
Understand and explain different theories of how gender roles are formed.
Discuss sexism and its impact on both genders.
Introduction
Before we discuss gender in detail, it is important to understand what gender
actually is. The terms sex and gender are frequently used interchangeably,
though they have different meanings. In this context, sex refers to the biological
category of male or female, as defined by physical differences in genetic
composition and in reproductive anatomy and function. On the other hand,
gender refers to the cultural, social, and psychological meanings that are
associated with masculinity and femininity (Wood & Eagly, 2002). You can think
of male and female as distinct categories of sex (a person is typically born a
male or a female), but masculine and feminine as continuums associated
with gender (everyone has a certain degree of masculine and feminine traits
and qualities).
Beyond sex and gender, there are a number of related terms that are also
often misunderstood. Gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes, and
personality traits that are designated as either masculine or feminine in a given
culture. In American culture, we commonly think of gender roles in terms of
gender stereotypes, or the beliefs and expectations people hold about the
typical characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of men and women.A
persons gender identity refers to their psychological sense of being male or
female. In contrast, a persons sexual orientation is the direction of their
emotional and erotic attraction toward members of the opposite sex, the same
sex, or both sexes. These are important distinctions, and though we will not
discuss each of these terms in detail, it is important to recognize that sex,
gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation do not always correspond with
one another. A person can be biologically male but have a female gender
identity while being attracted to women, or any other combination of identities
and orientations.
nobaproject.com - Gender
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Gender Differences
Differences between males and females can be based on (a) actual gender
differences (i.e., men and women are actually different in some abilities), (b)
gender roles (i.e., differences in how men and women are supposed to act), or
(c) gender stereotypes (i.e., differences in how we think men and women are).
Sometimes gender stereotypes and gender roles reflect actual gender
differences, but sometimes they do not.
What are actual gender differences? In terms of language and language skills,
girls develop language skills earlier and know more words than boys; this does
not, however, translate into long-term differences. Girls are also more likely
than boys to offer praise, to agree with the person theyre talking to, and to
elaborate on the other persons comments; boys, in contrast, are more likely
than girls to assert their opinion and offer criticisms (Leaper & Smith, 2004).In
terms of temperament,boys are slightly less able to suppress inappropriate
responses and slightly more likely to blurt things out than girls (Else-Quest,
Hyde, Goldsmith, & Van Hulle, 2006).With respect to aggression,boys exhibit
higher rates of unprovoked physical aggression than girls, but no difference in
provoked aggression) (Hyde, 2005). Some of the biggest differences involve the
play styles of children. Boys frequently play organized rough-and-tumble games
in large groups, while girls often play less physical activities in much smaller
groups (Maccoby, 1998).There are also differences in the rates of depression,
with girls much more likely than boys to be depressed after puberty. After
puberty, girls are also more likely to be unhappy with their bodies than boys.
However, there is considerable variability between individual males and
individual females. Also, even when there are mean level differences, the actual
size of most of these differences is quite small. This means, knowing someones
gender does not help much in predicting his or her actual traits. For example,
in terms of activity level, boys are considered more active than girls. However,
42% of girls are more active than the average boy (but so are 50% of boys; see
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Figure 1 for a depiction of this phenomenon). Furthermore, many gender

differences do not reflect innate differences, but instead reflect differences in
specific experiences and socialization. For example, one presumed gender
difference is that boys show better spatial abilities than girls. However, Tzuriel
and Egozi (2010) gave girls the chance to practice their spatial skills (by imagining
a line drawing was different shapes) and discovered that, with practice, this
gender difference completely disappeared.
Figure 1. While our gender stereotypes paint males and females as drastically different
from each other, even when a difference exists, there is considerable overlap in the presence
of that trait between genders. This graph shows the average difference in self-esteem between
boys and girls. Boys have a higher average self-esteem than girls, but the average scores are
much more similar than different. Taken from Hyde (2005).
Many domains we assume differ across genders are really based on gender
stereotypes and not actual differences. Based on large meta-analyses, the
analyses of thousands of studies across more than one million people, research
has shown: Girls are not more fearful, shy, or scared of new things than boys;
boys are not more angry than girls and girls are not more emotional than boys;
boys do not perform better at math than girls; and girls are not more talkative
than boys (Hyde, 2005).
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In the following sections, well investigate gender roles, the part they play in
creating these stereotypes, and how they can affect the development of real
gender differences.
Gender Roles
As mentioned earlier, gender roles are well-established social constructions
that may change from culture to culture and over time.In American culture, we
commonly think of gender roles in terms of gender stereotypes, or the beliefs
and expectations people hold about the typical characteristics, preferences,
and behaviors of men and women.
By the time we are adults, our gender roles are a stable part of our
personalities, and we usually hold many gender stereotypes. When do children
start to learn about gender? Very early. By their first birthday, children can
distinguish faces by gender. By their second birthday, they can label others
gender and even sort objects into gender-typed categories. By the third
birthday, children can consistently identify their own gender (see Martin, Ruble,
& Szkrybalo, 2002, for a review). At this age, children believe sex is determined
by external attributes, not biological attributes. Between 3 and 6 years of age,
children learn that gender is constant and cant change simply by changing
external attributes, having developed gender constancy. During this period,
children also develop strong and rigid gender stereotypes. Stereotypes can refer
to play (e.g., boys play with trucks, and girls play with dolls), traits (e.g., boys are
strong, and girls like to cry), and occupations (e.g., men are doctors and women
are nurses). These stereotypes stay rigid until children reach about age 8 or 9.
Then they develop cognitive abilities that allow them to be more flexible in their
thinking about others.
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Figure 2. Children develop the ability to classify gender very early in life.
How do our gender roles and gender stereotypes develop and become so
strong? Many of our gender stereotypes are so strong because we emphasize
gender so much in culture (Bigler & Liben, 2007). For example, males and
females are treated differently before they are even born. When someone
learns of a new pregnancy, the first question asked is Is it a boy or a girl?
Immediately upon hearing the answer, judgments are made about the child:
Boys will be rough and like blue, while girls will be delicate and like pink.
Developmental intergroup theory postulates that adults heavy focus on
gender leads children to pay attention to gender as a key source of information
about themselves and others, to seek out any possible gender differences, and
to form rigid stereotypes based on gender that are subsequently difficult to
change.
There are also psychological theories that partially explain how children form
their own gender roles after they learn to differentiate based on gender. The
first of these theories is gender schema theory.Gender schema theory argues
that children are active learners who essentially socialize themselves. In this
case, children actively organize others behavior, activities, and attributes into
gender categories, which are known as schemas. These schemas then affect
1438
what children notice and remember later. People of all ages are more likely to
remember schema-consistent behaviors and attributes than schemainconsistent behaviors and attributes. So, people are more likely to remember
men, and forget women, who are firefighters. They also misremember schemainconsistent information. If research participants are shown pictures of
someone standing at the stove, they are more likely to remember the person
to be cooking if depicted as a woman, and the person to be repairing the stove
if depicted as a man. By only remembering schema-consistent information,
gender schemas strengthen more and more over time.
A second theory that attempts to explain the formation of gender roles in
children is social learning theory. Social learning theory argues that gender
roles are learned through reinforcement, punishment, and modeling. Children
are rewarded and reinforced for behaving in concordance with gender roles
and punished for breaking gender roles. In addition, social learning theory
argues that children learn many of their gender roles by modeling the behavior
of adults and older children and, in doing so, develop ideas about what
behaviors are appropriate for each gender. Social learning theory has less
support than gender schema theoryresearch shows that parents do reinforce
gender-appropriate play, but for the most part treat their male and female
children similarly (Lytton & Romney, 1991).
Gender Sexism and Socialization

Treating boys and girls, and men and women, differently is both a consequence
of gender differences and a cause of gender differences. Differential treatment
on the basis of gender is also referred to gender discrimination and is an
inevitable consequence of gender stereotypes.When it is based on unwanted
treatment related to sexual behaviors or appearance, it is called sexual
harassment. By the time boys and girls reach the end of high school, most have
experienced some form of sexual harassment, most commonly in the form of
1439
unwanted touching or comments, being the target of jokes, having their body
parts rated, or being called names related to sexual orientation.
Different treatment by gender begins with parents. A meta-analysis of
research from the United States and Canada found that parents most frequently
treated sons and daughters differently by encouraging gender-stereotypical
activities (Lytton & Romney, 1991). Fathers, more than mothers, are particularly
likely to encourage gender-stereotypical play, especially in sons. Parents also
talk to their children differently based on stereotypes. For example, parents
talk about numbers and counting twice as often with sons than daughters
(Chang, Sandhofer, & Brown, 2011) and talk to sons in more detail about science
than with daughters. Parents are also much more likely to discuss emotions
with their daughters than their sons.
Children do a large degree of socializing themselves. By age 3, children play
in gender-segregated play groups and expect a high degree of conformity.
Children who are perceived as gender atypical (i.e., do not conform to gender
stereotypes) are more likely to be bullied and rejected than their more genderconforming peers.
Gender stereotypes typically maintain gender inequalities in society. The
concept of ambivalent sexism recognizes the complex nature of gender
attitudes, in which women are often associated with positive and negative
qualities (Glick & Fiske, 2001). It has two components. First, hostile sexism refers
to the negative attitudes of women as inferior and incompetent relative to men.
Second, benevolent sexism refers to the perception that women need to be
protected, supported, and adored by men. There has been considerable
empirical support for benevolent sexism, possibly because it is seen as more
socially acceptable than hostile sexism. Gender stereotypes are found not just
in American culture. Across cultures, males tend to be associated with stronger
and more active characteristics than females (Best, 2001).
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In recent years, gender and related concepts have become a common focus
of social change and social debate. Many societies, including American society,
have seen a rapid change in perceptions of gender roles, media portrayals of
gender, and legal trends relating to gender. For example, there has been an
increase in childrens toys attempting to cater to both genders (such as Legos
marketed to girls), rather than catering to traditional stereotypes. Nationwide,
the drastic surge in acceptance of homosexuality and gender questioning has
resulted in a rapid push for legal change to keep up with social change. Laws
such as Dont Ask, Dont Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), both
of which were enacted in the 1990s, have met severe resistance on the grounds
of being discriminatory toward sexual minority groups and have been accused
of unconstitutionality less than 20 years after their implementation. Change in
perceptions of gender is also evident in social issues such as sexual harassment,
a term that only entered the mainstream mindset in the 1991 Clarence Thomas/
Anita Hill scandal. As societys gender roles and gender restrictions continue to
fluctuate, the legal system and the structure of American society will continue
to change and adjust.
1441
Figure 3. Gender and related topics have become common subjects for social and legal
discussion in America in recent years, and this trend is likely to continue.
1442
Outside Resources
Video: Human Sexuality is Complicated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXAoG8vAyzI
Web: Big Think with Professor of Neuroscience Lise Eliot
http://bigthink.com/users/liseeliot
Web: Understanding Prejudice: Sexism
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/links/sexism.htm
1. What are the differences and associations among gender, sex, gender
identity, and sexual orientation?
2. Are the gender differences that exist innate (biological) differences or are
they caused by other variables?
3. Discuss the theories relating to the development of gender roles and gender
stereotypes. Which theory do you support? Why?
4. Using what youve read in this chapter: a. Why do you think gender
stereotypes are so inflated compared with actual gender differences? b.
Why do you think people continue to believe in such strong gender
differences despite evidence to the contrary?
5. Brainstorm additional forms of gender discrimination aside from sexual
harassment. Have you seen or experienced gender discrimination
personally?
6. How is benevolent sexism detrimental to women, despite appearing
positive?
Vocabulary
Ambivalent sexism
A concept of gender attitudes that encompasses both positive and negative
qualities.
Benevolent sexism
The positive element of ambivalent sexism, which recognizes that women are
perceived as needing to be protected, supported, and adored by men.
Developmental intergroup theory

A theory that postulates that adults focus on gender leads children to pay
attention to gender as a key source of information about themselves and others,
to seek out possible gender differences, and to form rigid stereotypes based
on gender.
Gender
The cultural, social, and psychological meanings that are associated with
masculinity and femininity.
Gender constancy
The awareness that gender is constant and does not change simply by changing
external attributes; develops between 3 and 6 years of age.
Gender discrimination
Differential treatment on the basis of gender.
Gender identity
A persons psychological sense of being male or female.
Gender roles
The behaviors, attitudes, and personality traits that are designated as either
masculine or feminine in a given culture.
Gender schema theory

This theory of how children form their own gender roles argues that children
actively organize others behavior, activities, and attributes into gender
categories or schemas.
Gender stereotypes
The beliefs and expectations people hold about the typical characteristics,
preferences, and behaviors of men and women.
Hostile sexism
The negative element of ambivalent sexism, which includes the attitudes that
women are inferior and incompetent relative to men.
Schemas
The gender categories into which, according to gender schema theory, children
actively organize others behavior, activities, and attributes.
Sex
Biological category of male or female as defined by physical differences in
genetic composition and in reproductive anatomy and function.
Sexual harassment
A form of gender discrimination based on unwanted treatment related to sexual
behaviors or appearance.
Sexual orientation
Refers to the direction of emotional and erotic attraction toward members of
the opposite sex, the same sex, or both sexes.
Social learning theory
This theory of how children form their own gender roles argues that gender
roles are learned through reinforcement, punishment, and modeling.
Reference List
Best, D. L. (2001). Gender concepts: Convergence in cross-cultural research and
methodologies. Cross-Cultural Research: The Journal of Comparative Social
Science, 35(1), 2343. doi: 10.1177/106939710103500102
Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (2007). Developmental intergroup theory: Explaining
and reducing children's social stereotyping and prejudice. Current
Directions in Psychological Science, 16(3), 162166. doi: 10.1111/
j.1467-8721.2007.00496.x
Chang, A. Sandhofer, C., & Brown, C. S. (2011). Gender biases in early number
exposure to preschool-aged children. Journal of Language and Social
Psychology. doi: 10.1177/0261927X11416207
Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., Goldsmith, H. H., & Van Hulle, C. A. (2006). Gender
differences in temperament: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1),
3372. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.33
Glick, P., & Fiske, S. T. (2001). An ambivalent alliance: Hostile and benevolent
sexism as complementary justifications for gender inequality. American
Psychologist, 56(2), 109118. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.56.2.109
Hyde, J. S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist,
60(6), 581592. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.6.581
Leaper, C., & Smith, T. E. (2004). A meta-analytic review of gender variations in
childrens language use: Talkativeness, affiliative speech, and assertive
speech. Developmental Psychology, 40(6), 9931027. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.40.6.993
Lytton, H., & Romney, D. M. (1991). Parents differential socialization of boys and
girls: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 267296. doi:
10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.267
Maccoby, E. E. (1998). The two sexes: Growing up apart, coming together.
Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.
Martin, C. L., Ruble, D. N., & Szkrybalo, J. (2002). Cognitive theories of early
gender development. Psychological Bulletin, 128(6), 903933. doi:
10.1037/0033-2909.128.6.903
Tzuriel, D., & Egozi, G. (2010). Gender differences in spatial ability of young
children: The effects of training and processing strategies. Child
Development, 81(5), 14171430. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01482.x
Wood, W., & Eagly, A. H. (2002). A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of
women and men: Implications for the origins of sex differences.
Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 699727. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.128.5.699
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Gender by Christia Spears Brown and Jennifer
A. Jewell is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Personality Stability and

Change
M. Brent Donnellan
Michigan State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter describes different ways to address questions about personality
stability across the lifespan. Definitions of the major types of personality
stability are provided, and evidence concerning the different kinds of stability
and change are reviewed. The mechanisms thought to produce personality
stability and personality change are identified and explained.
Learning Objectives
Define heterotypic stability, homotypic stability, absolute stability, and

differential stability.
Describe evidence concerning the absolute and differential stability of

personality attributes across the lifespan.
Explain the maturity, cumulative continuity, and corresponsive principles of

personality development.
Explain person-environment transactions, and distinguish between active,

reactive, and evocative person-environment transactions.
Identify the four processes that promote personality stability (attraction,

selection, manipulation, and attrition). Provide examples of these
processes.
Describe
the
transformation.
mechanisms
behind
the
possibility
of
personality
Introduction
Personality psychology is about how individuals differ from each other in their
characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Some of the most
interesting questions about personality attributes involve issues of stability and
change. Are shy children destined to become shy adults? Are the typical
personality attributes of adults different from the typical attributes of
adolescents? Do people become more self-controlled and better able to
manage their negative emotions as they become adults? What mechanisms
explain personality stability and what mechanisms account for personality
change?
Defining Different Kinds of Personality Stability

Something frustrating happens when you attempt to learn about personality
stability: As with many topics in psychology, there are a number of different
ways to conceptualize and quantify personality stability (e.g., Caspi & Bem, 1990;
Roberts, Wood, & Caspi, 2008). This means there are multiple ways to consider
questions about personality stability. Thus, the simple (and obviously
frustrating) way to respond to most blanket questions about personality
stability is to simply answer that it depends on what one means by personality
stability. To provide a more satisfying answer to questions about stability, I will
first describe the different ways psychologists conceptualize and evaluate
personality stability. I will make an important distinction between heterotypic
and homotypic stability. I will then describe absolute and differential stability,
two ways of considering homotypic stability. I will also draw your attention to
the important concept of individual differences in personality development.
nobaproject.com - Personality Stability and Change
1454
Heterotypic stability refers to the psychological coherence of an individuals

thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across development. Questions about
heterotypic stability concern the degree of consistency in underlying personality
attributes. The tricky part of studying heterotypic stability is that the underlying
psychological attribute can have different behavioral expressions at different
ages. (You may already know that the prefix hetero means something like
different in Greek.) Shyness is a good example of such an attribute because
shyness is expressed differently by toddlers and young children than adults.
The shy toddler might cling to a caregiver in a crowded setting and burst into
tears when separated from this caregiver. The shy adult, on the other hand,
may avoid making eye contact with strangers and seem aloof and distant at
social gatherings. It would be highly unusual to observe an adult burst into tears
in a crowded setting. The observable behaviors typically associated with
shyness look different at different ages. Researchers can study heterotypic
continuity only once they have a theory that specifies the different behavioral
manifestations of the psychological attribute at different points in the lifespan.
As it stands, there is evidence that attributes such as shyness and aggression
exhibit heterotypic stability across the lifespan (Caspi, Bem, & Elder, 1989).
Individuals who act shy as children often act shy as adults, but the degree of
correspondence is far from perfect because many things can intervene between
childhood and adulthood to alter how an individual develops. Nonetheless, the
important point is that the patterns of behavior observed in childhood
sometimes foreshadow adult personality attributes.
Homotypic stability concerns the amount of similarity in the same
observable personality characteristics across time. (The prefix homo means
something like the same in Greek.) For example, researchers might ask
whether stress reaction or the tendency to become easily distressed by the
normal challenges of life exhibits homotypic stability from age 25 to age 45.
The assumption is that this attribute has the same manifestations at these
different ages. Researchers make further distinctions between absolute
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stability and differential stability when considering homotypic stability.

Absolute stability refers to the consistency of the level of the same
personality attribute across time. If an individual received a score of 45 on a
hypothetical measure of stress reaction at age 20 and at age 40, researchers
would conclude there was evidence of absolute stability. Questions about
absolute stability can be considered at the group level or the individual level.
At the group level, it is common for personality researchers to compare average
scores on personality measures for groups of different ages. For example, it is
possible to investigate whether the average 40-year-old adult has a lower (or
higher) level of stress reaction than the average 20-year-old. The answer to this
question would tell researchers something about typical patterns of personality
development.
It is important to consider absolute stability from both the group and
individual perspectives. The individual level is interesting because different
people might have different patterns of absolute change over time. One person
might report consistently low levels of stress reaction throughout adulthood,
whereas another person may report dramatic increases in stress reaction
during her 30s and 40s. These different individual patterns can be present even
if the overall trend is for a decline in stress reaction with age. Personality
psychology is about individual differences and whether an individuals
attributes change or remain the same across time might be an important
individual difference. Indeed, there are intriguing hints that the rate and
direction of change in characteristics such as stress reaction (or neuroticism)
predicts mortality (Mroczek & Spiro, 2007).
Differential stability refers to the consistency of a personality attribute in
terms of an individuals rank-ordering. A typical question about differential
stability might be whether a 20-year-old who is low in stress reaction relative
to her same aged peers develops into a 40-year-old who is also low in stress
reaction compared to her peers. Differential stability is often interesting
because many psychological attributes show average changes across the
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lifespan. Regardless of average changes with age, however, it is common to

assume that more trait-like attributes have a high degree of differential stability.
Consider athletic performance as an attribute that may exhibit differential
stability. The average 35-year-old is likely to run a 5K race faster than the average
55-year-old. Nonetheless, individuals who are fast relative to their peers in their
30s might also be fast relative to their peers in their 50s. Likewise, even if most
people decline on a stress reaction as they age, it is still useful to investigate
whether there is consistency over time in their relative standing on this attribute.
Basic Findings about Absolute and Differential Stability

Absolute Stability. There are two common ways to investigate average levels of
personality attributes at different ages. The simplest approach is to conduct a
cross-sectional study and compare different age groups on a given attribute
assessed at the same time. For instance, researchers might collect data from a
sample of individuals ranging in age from 18 to 99 years and compare stress
reaction scores for groups of different ages. A more complicated design involves
following the same group of individuals and assessing their personalities at
multiple time points (often two). This is a longitudinal study,and it is a much
better way to study personality stability than a cross-sectional study. If all of
the individuals in the sample are roughly the same age at the start of the study,
they would all be considered members of the same birth cohort. One of the
chief drawbacks of a cross-sectional study is that individuals who are of different
ages are also members of different birth cohorts. Thus, researchers have no
way of knowing whether any personality differences observed in a crosssectional study are attributable to the influence of age per se or birth cohort.
A longitudinal study is better able to isolate age effects (i.e., differences in
personality related to maturation and development) from cohort effects (i.e.,
differences in personality related to being born at a particular point in history)
than a cross-sectional study. Cohort is a constant (i.e., an unchanging value) in
1457
a longitudinal study when all participants start the study at roughly the same
age.
A number of large-scale, cross-sectional studies have evaluated age
differences in personality (Anusic, Lucas, & Donnellan, 2012; Lucas & Donnellan,
2009; McCrae & Costa, 2003; Soto, John, Gosling, & Potter, 2011; Srivastava,
John, Gosling, & Potter, 2003) as have a number of longitudinal studies (Lucas
& Donnellan, 2011; Specht, Egloff, & Schmukle, 2011; Terracciano, McCrae,
Brant, & Costa, 2005; Wortman, Lucas, & Donnellan, in press). Fortunately, many
of the general trends from these different designs converge on the same basic
set of findings. Most notably, Roberts, Walton, and Viechtbauer (2006) combined
the results of 92 longitudinal studies to provide an overview of absolute changes
in personality across the lifespan. They used the Big Five taxonomy (e.g., John,
Naumann, & Soto, 2008) to categorize the different personality attributes
examined in the individual studies to make sense of the vast literature.
The Big Five domains include extraversion (attributes such as assertive,
confident, independent, outgoing, and sociable), agreeableness (attributes
such as cooperative, kind, modest, and trusting), conscientiousness (attributes
such as hard working, dutiful, self-controlled, and goal-oriented), neuroticism
(attributes such as anxious, tense, moody, and easily angered), and openness
(attributes such as artistic, curious, inventive, and open-minded). The Big Five
is one of the most common ways of organizing the vast range of personality
attributes that seem to distinguish one person from the next. This organizing
framework made it possible for Roberts et al. (2006) to draw broad conclusions
from the literature.
In general, average levels of extraversion (especially the attributes linked to
self-confidence and independence), agreeableness, and conscientiousness
appear to increase with age whereas neuroticism appears to decrease with age
(Roberts et al., 2006). Openness also declines with age, especially after mid-life
(Roberts et al., 2006). These changes are often viewed as positive trends given
that higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness and lower levels of
1458
neuroticism are associated with seemingly desirable outcomes such as

increased relationship stability and quality, greater success at work, better
health, a reduced risk of criminality and mental health problems, and even
decreased mortality (e.g., Kotov, Gamez, Schmidt, & Watson, 2010; Miller &
Lynam 2001; Ozer & Benet-Martnez, 2006; Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, &
Goldberg, 2007). This pattern of positive average changes in personality
attributes is known as the maturity principle of adult personality development
(Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005). The basic idea is that attributes associated
with positive adaptation and attributes associated with the successful
fulfillment of adult roles tend to increase during adulthood in terms of their
average levels.
Beyond providing insights into the general outline of adult personality
development, Roberts et al. (2006) found that young adulthood (the period
between the ages of 18 and the late 20s) was the most active time in the lifespan
for observing average changes, although average differences in personality
attributes were observed across the lifespan. Such a result might be surprising
in light of the intuition that adolescence is a time of personality change and
maturation. However, young adulthood is typically a time in the lifespan that
includes a number of life changes in terms of finishing school, starting a career,
committing to romantic partnerships, and parenthood (Donnellan, Conger, &
Burzette, 2007; Rindfuss, 1991). Finding that young adulthood is an active time
for personality development provides circumstantial evidence that adult roles
might generate pressures for certain patterns of personality development.
Indeed, this is one potential explanation for the maturity principle of personality
development.
It should be emphasized again that average trends are summaries that do
not necessarily apply to all individuals. Some people do not conform to the
maturity principle. The possibility of exceptions to general trends is the reason
it is necessary to study individual patterns of personality development. The
methods for this kind of research are becoming increasingly popular (e.g.,
1459
Vaidya, Gray, Haig, Mroczek, & Watson, 2008) and existing studies suggest that
personality changes differ across people (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008). These new
research methods work best when researchers collect more than two waves of
longitudinal data covering longer spans of time. This kind of research design is
still somewhat uncommon in psychological studies but it will likely characterize
the future of research on personality stability.
Differential stability. The evaluation of differential stability requires a
longitudinal study. The simplest strategy is to follow a large sample of
participants of the same age and measure their personality attributes at two
points separated by a meaningful span of time. The researcher then calculates
the correlation between scores at the first assessment and scores at the second
assessment (a coefficient sometimes called a test-retest correlation or even a
stability coefficient). As you know, a correlation coefficient is a numerical
summary of the linear association between two variables. Correlations around
.1 or .1 are often called small associations, whereas correlations around .50
and .50 (or larger) are often called large associations (Cohen, 1988).
Roberts and DelVecchio (2000) summarized 3,217 test-retest correlations
for a wide range of personality attributes reported in 152 longitudinal studies.
They used statistical methods to equate the different test-retest correlations
to a common interval of about seven years. This allowed them to compare
results from studies of differing lengths of time because not all studies followed
participants for the same interval of time. Roberts and DelVecchio found that
differential stability increased with age. The correlations ranged from about .30
for samples involving young children to about .70 for samples involving older
adults. Ferguson (2010) updated and replicated this basic pattern. This pattern
of increasing stability with age is called the cumulative continuity principle of
personality development (Caspi et al., 2005). This general pattern holds for
both women and men and applies to a wide range of different personality
attributes ranging from extraversion to openness and curiosity. It is important
to emphasize, however, that the observed correlations are never perfect at any
1460
age (i.e., the correlations do not reach 1.0). This indicates that personality
changes can occur at any time in the lifespan; it just seems that greater
inconsistency is observed in childhood and adolescence than in adulthood.
Key Messages So Far

It is useful to summarize the key ideas of this chapter so far. The starting point
was the realization that there are several different ways to define and measure
personality stability. Heterotypic stability refers to the consistency of the
underlying psychological attribute that may have different behavioral
manifestations at different ages. Homotypic stability, on the other hand, refers
to the consistency of the same observable manifestations of a personality
attribute. This type of stability is commonly studied in the current literature,
and absolute and differential stability are a focus on many studies. A
consideration of the broad literature on personality stability yields two major
conclusions.
1. Average levels of personality attributes seem to change in predictable ways
across the lifespan in line with maturity principle of personality
development. Traits that are correlated with positive outcomes (such as
conscientiousness) seem to increase from adolescence to adulthood. This
perspective on personality stability is gained from considering absolute
stability in the form of average levels of personality attributes at different
ages.
2. Personality attributes are relatively enduring attributes that become
increasingly consistent during adulthood in line with the cumulative
continuity principle. This perspective on stability is gained from considering
differential stability in the form of test-retest correlations from longitudinal
studies.
1461
In general, the picture that emerges from the literature is that personality
traits are relatively enduring attributes that become more stable from childhood
to adulthood. Nonetheless, the stability of personality attributes is not perfect
at any period in the lifespan. This is an important conclusion because it
challenges two extreme perspectives that have been influential in psychological
research. More than 100 years ago, the famous psychologist William James
remarked that character (personality) was set like plaster for most people by
age 30.
This perspective implies near perfect stability of personality in
adulthood. In contrast, other psychologists have sometimes denied there was

any stability to personality at all. Their perspective is that individual thoughts
and feelings are simply responses to transitory situational influences that are
unlikely to show much consistency across the lifespan. As discussed so far,
current research does not support either of these extreme perspectives.
Nonetheless, the existence of some degree of stability raises important
questions about the exact processes and mechanisms that produce personality
stability (and personality change).
The How and Why of Personality Stability and Change:

Different Kinds of Interplay Between Individuals and
Their Environments
Personality stability is the result of the interplay between the individual and
her/his environment. Psychologists use the term personenvironment
transactions (e.g., Roberts et al., 2008) to capture the mutually transforming
interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances. Several
different types of these transactions have been described by psychological
researchers. Active personenvironment transactions occur when individuals
seek out certain kinds of environments and experiences that are consistent
with their personality characteristics. Risk-taking individuals may spend their
1462
leisure time very differently than more cautious individuals. Some prefer
extreme sports whereas others prefer less intense experiences. Reactive
personenvironment transactions occur when individuals react differently to
the same objective situation because of their personalities. A large social
gathering represents a psychologically different context to the highly
extraverted person compared with the highly introverted person. Evocative
personenvironment transactions occur whenever individuals draw out or
evoke certain kinds of responses from their social environments because of
their personality attributes. A warm and secure individual invites different kinds
of responses from peers than a cold and aloof individual.
Current researchers make distinctions between the mechanisms likely to
produce personality stability and the mechanisms likely to produce changes
(Roberts, 2006; Roberts et al., 2008). Brent Roberts coined the helpful acronym
ASTMA to aid in remembering many of these mechanisms: Attraction (A),
selection (S), manipulation (M), and attrition (A) tend to produce personality
stability, whereas transformation (T) explains personality change.
Individuals sometimes select careers, friends, social clubs, and lifestyles
because of their personality attributes. This is the active process of attraction
individuals are attracted to environments because of their personality
attributes. Situations that match with our personalities seem to feel right (e.
g., Cesario, Grant, & Higgins, 2004). On the flipside of this process, gatekeepers,
such as employers, admissions officers, and even potential relationship
partners, often select individuals because of their personalities. Extraverted
and outgoing individuals are likely to make better salespeople than quiet
individuals who are uncomfortable with social interactions. All in all, certain
individuals are admitted by gatekeepers into particular kinds of environments
because of their personalities. Likewise, individuals with characteristics that are
a bad fit with a particular environment may leave such settings or be asked to
leave by gatekeepers. A lazy employee will not last long at a demanding job.
These examples capture the process of attrition (dropping out). The processes
1463
of selection and attrition reflect evocative personenvironment transactions.

Last, individuals can actively manipulate their environments to match their
personalities. An outgoing person will find ways to introduce more social
interactions into the workday, whereas a shy individual may shun the proverbial
water cooler to avoid having contact with others.
These four processes of attraction, selection, attrition, and manipulation
explain how a kind of matching occurs between personality attributes and
environmental conditions for many individuals. This positive matching typically
produces personality consistency because the press of the situation reinforces
the attributes of the person. This observation is at the core of the corresponsive
principle of personality development (Caspi et al., 2005; Roberts, Caspi, &
Moffitt, 2003). Preexisting personality attributes and environmental contexts
work in concert to promote personality continuity. The idea is that environments
often reinforce those personality attributes that were partially responsible for
the initial environmental conditions in the first place. For example, ambitious
and confident individuals might be attracted to and selected for more
demanding jobs (Roberts et al., 2003). These kinds of jobs often require drive,
dedication, and achievement striving thereby accentuating dispositional
tendencies toward ambition and confidence.
Additional considerations related to personenvironment transactions may
help to further explain personality stability. Individuals gain more autonomy to
select their own environment as they transition from childhood to adulthood
(Scarr & McCartney, 1983). This might help explain why the differential stability
of personality attributes increases from adolescence into adulthood. Reactive
and evocative personenvironment transactions also facilitate personality
stability. The overarching idea is that personality attributes shape how
individuals respond to situations and shape the kinds of responses individuals
elicit from their environments. These responses and reactions can generate
self-fulfilling cycles. For example, aggressive individuals seem to interpret
ambiguous social cues as threatening (something called a hostile attribution
1464
bias or a hostile attribution of intent; see Crick & Dodge, 1996; Orobio de Castro,
Veerman, Koops, Bosch, & Monshouwer, 2002). If a stranger runs into you and
you spill your hot coffee all over a clean shirt, how do you interpret the situation?
Do you believe the other person was being aggressive, or were you just unlucky?
A rude, caustic, or violent response might invite a similar response from the
individual who ran into you. The basic point is that personality attributes help
shape reactions to and responses from the social world, and these processes
often (but not always) end up reinforcing dispositional tendencies.
Although a number of mechanisms account for personality continuity by
generating a match between the individuals characteristics and the
environment, personality change or transformation is nonetheless possible.
Recall that differential stability is not perfect. The simplest mechanism for
producing change is a cornerstone of behaviorism: Patterns of behavior that
produce positive consequences (pleasure) are repeated, whereas patterns of
behavior that produce negative consequences (pain) will diminish (Thorndike,
1933). Social settings may have the power to transform personality if the
individual is exposed to different rewards and punishments and the setting
places limitations on how a person can reasonably behave (Caspi & Moffitt,
1993). For example, environmental contexts that limit agency and have very
clear reward structures such as the military might be particularly powerful
contexts for producing lasting personality changes (e.g., Jackson, Thoemmes,
Jonkmann, Ldke, & Trautwein, 2012).
It is also possible that individuals might change their personality attributes
by actively striving to change their behaviors and emotional reactions with help
from outsiders. This idea lies at the heart of psychotherapy. As it stands, the
conditions that produce lasting personality changes are an active area of
research. Personality researchers have historically sought to demonstrate the
existence of personality stability, and they are now turning their full attention
to the conditions that facilitate personality change. There are currently a few
examples of interventions that end up producing short-term personality
1465
changes (Jackson, Hill, Payne, Roberts, & Stine-Morrow, 2012), and this is an
exciting area for future research (Edmonds, Jackson, Fayard, & Roberts, 2008).
Insights about personality change are important for creating effective
interventions designed to foster positive human development. Finding ways to
promote self-control, emotional stability, creativity, and an agreeable
disposition would likely lead to improvements for both individuals and society
as a whole because these attributes predict a range of consequential life
outcomes (Ozer & Benet-Martnez, 2006; Roberts et al., 2007)
Conclusion
There are multiple ways to evaluate personality stability. The existing evidence
suggests that personality attributes are relatively enduring attributes that show
predictable average-level changes across the lifespan. Personality stability is
produced by a complicated interplay between individuals and their social
settings. Many personality attributes are linked to life experiences in a mutually
reinforcing cycle: Personality attributes seem to shape environmental contexts,
and those contexts often then accentuate and reinforce those very personality
attributes. Even so, personality change or transformation is possible because
individuals respond to their environments. Individuals may also want to change
their personalities. Personality researchers are now beginning to address
important questions about the possibility of lasting personality changes
through intervention efforts.
Throughout most of this chapter I will use the term stability to refer to
continuity, stability/change, and consistency/inconsistency.
1466
1. Why is it difficult to give a simple answer to the question of whether
personality is stable across the lifespan?
2. What happens during young adulthood that might explain findings about
average changes in personality attributes?
3. Why does differential stability increase during adulthood?
4. What are some concrete examples of the ASTMA processes?
5. Can you explain the corresponsive principle of personality development?
Provide several clear examples.
6. Do you think dramatic personality changes are likely to happen in
adulthood? Why or why not?
7. What kinds of environments might be particularly powerful for changing
personality? What specific features of these environments seem to make
them powerful for producing change?
8. Is it easy to change your personality in adulthood? What steps do you think
are needed to produce noticeable and lasting changes in your personality?
What steps are needed to change the personalities of others?
9. Do you find the evidence that personality attributes are relatively enduring
attributes reflects a largely positive aspect of adult development or a more
unpleasant aspect? Why?
Vocabulary
Absolute stability
Consistency in the level or amount of a personality attribute over time.
Active personenvironment transactions

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that
occurs whenever individuals play a key role in seeking out, selecting, or
otherwise manipulating aspects of their environment.
Age effects
Differences in personality between groups of different ages that are related to
maturation and development instead of birth cohort differences.
Attraction
A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment
that occurs because individuals with particular traits are drawn to certain
environments.
Attrition
that occurs because individuals with particular traits drop out from certain
environments.
Birth cohort
Individuals born in a particular year or span of time.
Cohort effects
Differences in personality that are related to historical and social factors unique
to individuals born in a particular year.
Corresponsive principle
The idea that personality traits often become matched with environmental
conditions such that an individuals social context acts to accentuate and
reinforce their personality attributes.
Cross-sectional study/design
A research design that uses a group of individuals with different ages (and birth
cohorts) assessed at a single point in time.
Cumulative continuity principle
The generalization that personality attributes show increasing stability with age
and experience.
Differential stability
Consistency in the rank-ordering of personality across two or more
measurement occasions.
Evocative personenvironment transactions
occurs whenever attributes of the individual draw out particular responses from
others in their environment.
Group level
A focus on summary statistics that apply to aggregates of individuals when
studying personality development. An example is considering whether the
average score of a group of 50 year olds is higher than the average score of a
group of 21 year olds when considering a trait like conscientiousness.
Heterotypic stability
Consistency in the underlying psychological attribute across development
regardless of any changes in how the attribute is expressed at different ages.
Homotypic stability
Consistency of the exact same thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across
development.
Hostile attribution bias

The tendency of some individuals to interpret ambiguous social cues and
interactions as examples of aggressiveness, disrespect, or antagonism.
Individual level
A focus on individual level statistics that reflect whether individuals show
stability or change when studying personality development. An example is
evaluating how many individuals increased in conscientiousness versus how
many decreased in conscientiousness when considering the transition from
adolescence to adulthood.
Longitudinal study/design
A research design that follows the same group of individuals at multiple time
points.
Manipulation
that occurs whenever individuals with particular traits actively shape their
environments.
Maturity principle
The generalization that personality attributes associated with the successful
fulfillment of adult roles increase with age and experience.
Personenvironment transactions
The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that ends
up shaping both personality and the environment.
Reactive personenvironment transactions

occurs whenever attributes of the individual shape how a person perceives and
responds to their environment.
Selection
that occurs whenever individuals with particular attributes choose particular
kinds of environments.
Stress reaction
The tendency to become easily distressed by the normal challenges of life.
Transformation
The term for personality changes associated with experience and life events.
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Donnellan is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Personality Assessment
David Watson
University of Notre Dame
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter provides a basic overview to the assessment of personality. It
discusses objective personality tests (based on both self-report and informant
ratings), projective and implicit tests, and behavioral/performance measures.
It describes the basic features of each method, as well as reviewing the
strengths, weaknesses, and overall validity of each approach.
Learning Objectives
Appreciate the diversity of methods that are used to measure personality

characteristics.
Understand the logic, strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
Gain a better sense of the overall validity and range of applications of

personality tests.
Introduction
Personality is the field within psychology that studies the thoughts, feelings,
behaviors, goals, and interests of normal individuals. It therefore covers a very
wide range of important psychological characteristics. Moreover, different
theoretical models have generated very different strategies for measuring these
characteristics. For example, humanistically oriented models argue that people
have clear, well-defined goals and are actively striving to achieve them
(McGregor, McAdams, & Little, 2006). It, therefore, makes sense to ask them
directly about themselves and their goals. In contrast, psychodynamically
oriented theories propose that people lack insight into their feelings and
motives, such that their behavior is influenced by processes that operate
outside of their awareness (e.g., McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989;
Meyer & Kurtz, 2006). Given that they are unaware of these processes, it does
not make sense to ask directly about them. One, therefore, needs to adopt an
entirely different approach to identify these nonconscious factors.
Not surprisingly, researchers have adopted a wide range of approaches to
measure important personality characteristics. The most widely used strategies
will be summarized in the following sections.
Objective Tests
Definition
Objective tests (Loevinger, 1957; Meyer & Kurtz, 2006) represent the most
familiar and widely used approach to assessing personality. Objective tests
involve administering a standard set of items, each of which is answered using
a limited set of response options (e.g., true or false; strongly disagree, slightly
disagree, slightly agree, strongly agree). Responses to these items then are
nobaproject.com - Personality Assessment
1484
scored in a standardized, predetermined way. For example, self-ratings on items

assessing talkativeness, assertiveness, sociability, adventurousness, and
energy can be summed up to create an overall score on the personality trait of
extraversion.
It must be emphasized that the term objective refers to the method that
is used to score a persons responses, rather than to the responses themselves.
As noted by Meyer and Kurtz (2006, p. 233), What is objective about such a
procedure is that the psychologist administering the test does not need to rely
on judgment to classify or interpret the test-takers response; the intended
response is clearly indicated and scored according to a pre-existing key. In fact,
as we will see, a persons test responses may be highly subjective and can be
influenced by a number of different rating biases.
Basic Types of Objective Tests

Self-report measures
Objective personality tests can be further subdivided into two basic types. The
first typewhich easily is the most widely used in modern personality research
asks people to describe themselves. This approach offers two key advantages.
First, self-raters have access to an unparalleled wealth of information: After all,
who knows more about you than you yourself? In particular, self-raters have
direct access to their own thoughts, feelings, and motives, which may not be
readily available to others (Oh, Wang, & Mount, 2011; Watson, Hubbard, &
Weise, 2000). Second, asking people to describe themselves is the simplest,
easiest, and most cost-effective approach to assessing personality. Countless
studies, for instance, have involved administering self-report measures to
college students, who are provided some relatively simple incentive (e.g., extra
course credit) to participate.
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The items included in self-report measures may consist of single words (e.
g., assertive), short phrases (e.g., am full of energy), or complete sentences (e.
g., I like to spend time with others). Table 1 presents a sample self-report
measure assessing the general traits comprising the influential five-factor
model
(FFM)
of
personality:
neuroticism,
extraversion,
openness,
agreeableness, and conscientiousness (John & Srivastava, 1999; McCrae, Costa,

& Martin, 2005). The sentences shown in Table 1 are modified versions of items
included in the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) (Goldberg et al., 2006),
which is a rich source of personality-related content in the public domain (for
more information about IPIP, go to:
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Self-report personality tests show impressive validity in relation to a wide

range of important outcomes. For example, self-ratings of conscientiousness
are significant predictors of both overall academic performance (e.g.,
cumulative grade point average; Poropat, 2009) and job performance (Oh,
Wang, and Mount, 2011). Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, and Goldberg (2007)
1487
reported that self-rated personality predicted occupational attainment, divorce,

and mortality. Similarly, Friedman, Kern, and Reynolds (2010) showed that
personality ratings collected early in life were related to happiness/well-being,
physical health, and mortality risk assessed several decades later. Finally, selfreported personality has important and pervasive links to psychopathology.
Most notably, self-ratings of neuroticism are associated with a wide array of
clinical syndromes, including anxiety disorders, depressive disorders,
substance use disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, personality
and conduct disorders, and schizophrenia/schizotypy (Kotov, Gamez, Schmidt,
& Watson, 2010; Mineka, Watson, & Clark, 1998).
At the same time, however, it is clear that this method is limited in a number
of ways. First, raters may be motivated to present themselves in an overly
favorable, socially desirable way (Paunonen & LeBel, 2012). This is a particular
concern in high-stakes testing, that is, situations in which test scores are used
to make important decisions about individuals (e.g., when applying for a job).
Second, personality ratings reflect a self-enhancement bias (Vazire & Carlson,
2011); in other words, people are motivated to ignore (or at least downplay)
some of their less desirable characteristics and to focus instead on their more
positive attributes. Third, self-ratings are subject to the reference group effect
(Heine, Buchtel, & Norenzayan, 2008); that is, we base our self-perceptions, in
part, on how we compare to others in our sociocultural reference group. For
instance, if you tend to work harder than most of your friends, you will see
yourself as someone who is relatively conscientious, even if you are not
particularly conscientious in any absolute sense.
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Informant ratings
Another approach is to ask someone who knows a person well to describe his
or her personality characteristics. In the case of children or adolescents, the
informant is most likely to be a parent or teacher. In studies of older participants,
informants may be friends, roommates, dating partners, spouses, children, or
bosses (Oh et al., 2011; Vazire & Carlson, 2011; Watson et al., 2000).
Generally speaking, informant ratings are similar in format to self-ratings.
As was the case with self-report, items may consist of single words, short
phrases, or complete sentences. Indeed, many popular instruments include
parallel self- and informant-rating versions, and it often is relatively easy to
convert a self-report measure so that it can be used to obtain informant ratings.
Table 2 illustrates how the self-report instrument shown in Table 1 can be
converted to obtain spouse-ratings (in this case, having a husband describe the
personality characteristics of his wife).
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Informant ratings are particularly valuable when self-ratings are impossible

to collect (e.g., when studying young children or cognitively impaired adults) or
when their validity is suspect (e.g., as noted earlier, people may not be entirely
honest in high-stakes testing situations). They also may be combined with selfratings of the same characteristics to produce more reliable and valid measures
of these attributes (McCrae, 1994).
Informant ratings offer several advantages in comparison to other
approaches to assessing personality. A well-acquainted informant presumably
has had the opportunity to observe large samples of behavior in the person he
or she is rating. Moreover, these judgments presumably are not subject to the
types of defensiveness that potentially can distort self-ratings (Vazire & Carlson,
1490
2011). Indeed, informants typically have strong incentives for being accurate in
their judgments. As Funder and Dobroth (1987, p. 409), put it, Evaluations of
the people in our social environment are central to our decisions about who to
befriend and avoid, trust and distrust, hire and fire, and so on.
Informant personality ratings have demonstrated a level of validity in
relation to important life outcomes that is comparable to that discussed earlier
for self-ratings. Indeed, they outperform self-ratings in certain circumstances,
particularly when the assessed traits are highly evaluative in nature (e.g.,
intelligence, charm, creativity; see Vazire & Carlson, 2011). For example, Oh et
al. (2011) found that informant ratings were more strongly related to job
performance than were self-ratings. Similarly, Oltmanns and Turkheimer (2009)
summarized evidence indicating that informant ratings of Air Force cadets
predicted early, involuntary discharge from the military better than self-ratings.
Nevertheless, informant ratings also are subject to certain problems and
limitations. One general issue is the level of relevant information that is available
to the rater (Funder, 2012). For instance, even under the best of circumstances,
informants lack full access to the thoughts, feelings, and motives of the person
they are rating. This problem is magnified when the informant does not know
the person particularly well and/or only sees him or her in a limited range of
situations (Funder, 2012; Beer & Watson, 2010).
Informant ratings also are subject to some of the same response biases
noted earlier for self-ratings. For instance, they are not immune to the reference
group effect. Indeed, it is well-established that parent ratings often are subject
to a sibling contrast effect, such that parents exaggerate the true magnitude
of differences between their children (Pinto, Rijsdijk, Frazier-Wood, Asherson,
& Kuntsi, 2012). Furthermore, in many studies, individuals are allowed to
nominate (or even recruit) the informants who will rate them. Because of this,
it most often is the case that informants (who, as noted earlier, may be friends,
relatives, or romantic partners) like the people they are rating. This, in turn,
means that informants may produce overly favorable personality ratings.
1491
Indeed, their ratings actually can be more favorable than the corresponding
self-ratings (Watson & Humrichouse, 2006). This tendency for informants to
produce unrealistically positive ratings has been termed the letter of
recommendation effect (Leising, Erbs, & Fritz, 2010) and the honeymoon effect
when applied to newlyweds (Watson & Humrichouse, 2006).
Other Ways of Classifying Objective Tests

Comprehensiveness
In addition to the source of the scores, there are at least two other important
dimensions on which personality tests differ. The first such dimension concerns
the extent to which an instrument seeks to assess personality in a reasonably
comprehensive manner. At one extreme, many widely used measures are
designed to assess a single core attribute. Examples of these types of measures
include the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994), the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and the Multidimensional
Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (Gamez, Chmielewski, Kotov, Ruggero, &
Watson, 2011). At the other extreme, a number of omnibus inventories contain
a large number of specific scales and purport to measure personality in a
reasonably comprehensive manner. These instruments include the California
Psychological Inventory (Gough, 1987), the Revised HEXACO Personality
Inventory (HEXACO-PI-R) (Lee & Ashton, 2006), the Multidimensional Personality
Questionnaire (Patrick, Curtin, & Tellegen, 2002), the NEO Personality
Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3) (McCrae et al., 2005), the Personality Research Form
(Jackson, 1984), and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell, Eber,
& Tatsuoka, 1980).
1492
Breadth of the target characteristics

Second, personality characteristics can be classified at different levels of
breadth or generality. For example, many models emphasize broad, big traits
such as neuroticism and extraversion. These general dimensions can be divided
up into several distinct yet empirically correlated component traits. For
example, the broad dimension of extraversion contains such specific
component traits as dominance (extraverts are assertive, persuasive, and
exhibitionistic), sociability (extraverts seek out and enjoy the company of
others), positive emotionality (extraverts are active, energetic, cheerful, and
enthusiastic), and adventurousness (extraverts enjoy intense, exciting
experiences).
Some popular personality instruments are designed to assess only the
broad, general traits. For example, similar to the sample instrument displayed
in Table 1, the Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) contains brief scales
assessing
the
broad
traits
of
neuroticism,
extraversion,
openness,
agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In contrast, many instruments

including several of the omnibus inventories mentioned earlierwere designed
primarily to assess a large number of more specific characteristics. Finally, some
inventoriesincluding the HEXACO-PI-R and the NEO-PI-3were explicitly
designed to provide coverage of both general and specific trait characteristics.
For instance, the NEO-PI-3 contains six specific facet scales (e.g.,
Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Positive Emotions, Excitement Seeking) that
then can be combined to assess the broad trait of extraversion.
1493
Projective and Implicit Tests

Projective Tests
As noted earlier, some approaches to personality assessment are based on the
belief that important thoughts, feelings, and motives operate outside of
conscious awareness. Projective tests represent influential early examples of
this approach. Projective tests originally were based on the projective
hypothesis (Frank, 1939; Lilienfeld, Wood, & Garb, 2000): If a person is asked
to describe or interpret ambiguous stimulithat is, things that can be
understood in a number of different waystheir responses will be influenced
by nonconscious needs, feelings, and experiences (note, however, that the
theoretical rationale underlying these measures has evolved over time) (see,
for example, Spangler, 1992). Two prominent examples of projective tests are
the Rorschach Inkblot Test (Rorschach, 1921) and the Thematic Apperception
Test (TAT) (Morgan & Murray, 1935). The former asks respondents to interpret
symmetrical blots of ink, whereas the latter asks them to generate stories about
a series of pictures.
For instance, one TAT picture depicts an elderly woman with her back turned
to a young man; the latter looks downward with a somewhat perplexed
expression. Another picture displays a man clutched from behind by three
mysterious hands. What stories could you generate in response to these
pictures?
In comparison to objective tests, projective tests tend to be somewhat
cumbersome and labor intensive to administer. The biggest challenge, however,
has been to develop a reliable and valid scheme to score the extensive set of
responses generated by each respondent. The most widely used Rorschach
scoring scheme is the Comprehensive System developed by Exner (2003). The
most influential TAT scoring system was developed by McClelland, Atkinson and
colleagues between 1947 and 1953 (McClelland et al., 1989; see also Winter,
1494
1998), which can be used to assess motives such as the need for achievement.
The validity of the Rorschach has been a matter of considerable controversy
(Lilienfeld et al., 2000; Mihura, Meyer, Dumitrascu, & Bombel, 2012; Society for
Personality Assessment, 2005). Most reviews acknowledge that Rorschach
scores do show some ability to predict important outcomes. Its critics, however,
argue that it fails to provide important incremental information beyond other,
more easily acquired information, such as that obtained from standard selfreport measures (Lilienfeld et al., 2000).
Validity evidence is more impressive for the TAT. In particular, reviews have
concluded that TAT-based measures of the need for achievement show (a)
significant validity to predict important criteria and (b) provide important
information beyond that obtained from objective measures of this motive
(McClelland et al., 1989; Spangler, 1992). Furthermore, given the relatively weak
associations between objective and projective measures of motives, McClelland
et al. (1989) argue that they tap somewhat different processes, with the latter
assessing implicit motives (Schultheiss, 2008).
Implicit Tests
In recent years, researchers have begun to use implicit measures of personality
(Back, Schmuckle, & Egloff, 2009; Vazire & Carlson, 2011). These tests are based
on the assumption that people form automatic or implicit associations between
certain concepts based on their previous experience and behavior. If two
concepts (e.g., me and assertive) are strongly associated with each other, then
they should be sorted together more quickly and easily than two concepts (e.
g., me and shy) that are less strongly associated. Although validity evidence for
these measures still is relatively sparse, the results to date are encouraging:
Back et al. (2009), for example, showed that implicit measures of the FFM
personality traits predicted behavior even after controlling for scores on
objective measures of these same characteristics.
1495
Behavioral and Performance Measures

A final approach is to infer important personality characteristics from direct
samples of behavior. For example, Funder and Colvin (1988) brought oppositesex pairs of participants into the laboratory and had them engage in a fiveminute getting acquainted conversation; raters watched videotapes of these
interactions and then scored the participants on various personality
characteristics. Mehl, Gosling, and Pennebaker (2006) used the electronically
activated recorder (EAR) to obtain samples of ambient sounds in participants
natural environments over a period of two days; EAR-based scores then were
related to self- and observer-rated measures of personality. For instance, more
frequent talking over this two-day period was significantly related to both selfand observer-ratings of extraversion. As a final example, Gosling, Ko,
Mannarelli, and Morris (2002) sent observers into college students bedrooms
and then had them rate the students personality characteristics on the Big Five
traits. The averaged observer ratings correlated significantly with participants
self-ratings on all five traits. Follow-up analyses indicated that conscientious
students had neater rooms, whereas those who were high in openness to
experience had a wider variety of books and magazines.
Behavioral measures offer several advantages over other approaches to
assessing personality. First, because behavior is sampled directly, this approach
is not subject to the types of response biases (e.g., self-enhancement bias,
reference group effect) that can distort scores on objective tests. Second, as is
illustrated by the Mehl et al. (2006) and Gosling et al. (2002) studies, this
approach allows people to be studied in their daily lives and in their natural
environments, thereby avoiding the artificiality of other methods (Mehl et al.,
2006). Finally, this is the only approach that actually assesses what people do,
as opposed to what they think or feel (see Baumeister, Vohs, & Funder, 2007).
1496
At the same time, however, this approach also has some disadvantages. This
assessment strategy clearly is much more cumbersome and labor intensive
than using objective tests, particularly self-report. Moreover, similar to
projective tests, behavioral measures generate a rich set of data that then need
to be scored in a reliable and valid way. Finally, even the most ambitious study
only obtains relatively small samples of behavior that may provide a somewhat
distorted view of a persons true characteristics. For example, your behavior
during a getting acquainted conversation on a single given day inevitably will
reflect a number of transient influences (e.g., level of stress, quality of sleep the
previous night) that are idiosyncratic to that day.
Conclusion
No single method of assessing personality is perfect or infallible; each of the
major methods has both strengths and limitations. By using a diversity of
approaches, researchers can overcome the limitations of any single method
and develop a more complete and integrative view of personality.
1497
1. Under what conditions would you expect self-ratings to be most similar to
informant ratings? When would you expect these two sets of ratings to be
most different from each other?
2. The findings of Gosling, et al. (2002) demonstrate that we can obtain
important clues about students personalities from their dorm rooms. What
other aspects of peoples lives might give us important information about
their personalities?
3. Suppose that you were planning to conduct a study examining the
personality trait of honesty. What method or methods might you use to
measure it?
Vocabulary
Big Five
Five, broad general traits that are included in many prominent models of
personality. The five traits are neuroticism (those high on this trait are prone to
feeling sad, worried, anxious, and dissatisfied with themselves), extraversion
(high scorers are friendly, assertive, outgoing, cheerful, and energetic),
openness to experience (those high on this trait are tolerant, intellectually
curious, imaginative, and artistic), agreeableness (high scorers are polite,
considerate, cooperative, honest, and trusting), and conscientiousness (those
high on this trait are responsible, cautious, organized, disciplined, and
achievement-oriented).
High-stakes testing
Settings in which test scores are used to make important decisions about
individuals. For example, test scores may be used to determine which
individuals are admitted into a college or graduate school, or who should be
hired for a job. Tests also are used in forensic settings to help determine whether
a person is competent to stand trial or fits the legal definition of sanity.
Honeymoon effect
The tendency for newly married individuals to rate their spouses in an
unrealistically positive manner. This represents a specific manifestation of the
letter of recommendation effect when applied to ratings made by current
romantic partners. Moreover, it illustrates the very important role played by
relationship satisfaction in ratings made by romantic partners: As marital
satisfaction declines (i.e., when the honeymoon is over), this effect disappears.
Implicit motives
These are goals that are important to a person, but that he/she cannot
consciously express. Because the individual cannot verbalize these goals
directly, they cannot be easily assessed via self-report. However, they can be
measured using projective devices such as the Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT).
Letter of recommendation effect
The general tendency for informants in personality studies to rate others in an
unrealistically positive manner.
This tendency is due a pervasive bias in
personality assessment: In the large majority of published studies, informants

are individuals who like the person they are rating (e.g., they often are friends
or family members) and, therefore, are motivated to depict them in a socially
desirable way. The term reflects a similar tendency for academic letters of
recommendation to be overly positive and to present the referent in an
unrealistically desirable manner.
Projective hypothesis
The theory that when people are confronted with ambiguous stimuli (that is,
stimuli that can be interpreted in more than one way), their responses will be
influenced by their unconscious thoughts, needs, wishes, and impulses. This,
in turn, is based on the Freudian notion of projection, which is the idea that
people attribute their own undesirable/unacceptable characteristics to other
people or objects.
Reference group effect
The tendency of people to base their self-concept on comparisons with others.
For example, if your friends tend to be very smart and successful, you may
come to see yourself as less intelligent and successful than you actually are.
Informants also are prone to these types of effects. For instance, the sibling
contrast effect refers to the tendency of parents to exaggerate the true extent
of differences between their children.
Reliablility
The consistency of test scores across repeated assessments. For example, testretest reliability examines the extent to which scores change over time.
Self-enhancement bias
The tendency for people to see and/or present themselves in an overly favorable
way. This tendency can take two basic forms: defensiveness (when individuals
actually believe they are better than they really are) and impression
management (when people intentionally distort their responses to try to
convince others that they are better than they really are). Informants also can
show enhancement biases. The general form of this bias has been called the
letter-of-recommendation effect, which is the tendency of informants who like
the person they are rating (e.g., friends, relatives, romantic partners) to describe
them in an overly favorable way. In the case of newlyweds, this tendency has
been termed the honeymoon effect.
Sibling contrast effect
The tendency of parents to use their perceptions of all of their children as a
frame of reference for rating the characteristics of each of them. For example,
suppose that a mother has three children; two of these children are very
sociable and outgoing, whereas the third is relatively average in sociability.
Because of operation of this effect, the mother will rate this third child as less
sociable and outgoing than he/she actually is. More generally, this effect causes
parents to exaggerate the true extent of differences between their children.
This effect represents a specific manifestation of the more general reference
group effect when applied to ratings made by parents.
Validity
Evidence related to the interpretation and use of test scores. A particularly
important type of evidence is criterion validity, which involves the ability of a
test to predict theoretically relevant outcomes. For example, a presumed
measure of conscientiousness should be related to academic achievement
(such as overall grade point average).
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Personality Assessment by David Watson is

licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Self-Regulation and
Conscientiousness
Roy F. Baumeister
Florida State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Self-regulation means changing oneself based on standards, that is, ideas of
how one should or should not be. It is a centrally important capacity that
contributes to socially desirable behavior, including moral behavior. Effective
self-regulation requires knowledge of standards for proper behavior, careful
monitoring of ones actions and feelings, and the ability to make desired
changes.
Learning Objectives
Understand what self-regulation means and how it works.
Understand the requirements and benefits of effective self-regulation.
Understand differences in state (ego depletion) and trait (conscientiousness).
Introduction
Self-regulation is the capacity to alter ones responses. It is broadly related to
the term self-control. The term regulate means to change somethingbut
not just any change, rather change to bring it into agreement with some idea,
such as a rule, a goal, a plan, or a moral principle. To illustrate, when the
government regulates how houses are built, that means the government
inspects the buildings to check that everything is done up to code or according
to the rules about good building. In a similar fashion, when you regulate
yourself, you watch and change yourself to bring your responses into line with
some ideas about how they should be.
People regulate four broad categories of responses. They control their
thinking, such as in trying to concentrate or to shut some annoying earworm
tune out of their mind. They control their emotions, as in trying to cheer
themselves up or to calm down when angry (or to stay angry, if thats helpful).
They control their impulses, as in trying not to eat fattening food, trying to hold
ones tongue, or trying to quit smoking. Last, they try to control their task
performances, such as in pushing themselves to keep working when tired and
discouraged, or deciding whether to speed up (to get more done) or slow down
(to make sure to get it right).
Early Work on Delay of Gratification

Research on self-regulation was greatly stimulated by early experiments
conducted by Walter Mischel and his colleagues (e.g., Mischel, 1974) on the
capacity to delay gratification, which means being able to refuse current
temptations and pleasures to work toward future benefits. In a typical study
with what later came to be called the marshmallow test, a 4-year-old child
would be seated in a room, and a favorite treat such as a cookie or marshmallow
was placed on the table. The experimenter would tell the child, I have to leave
nobaproject.com - Self-Regulation and Conscientiousness
1514
for a few minutes and then Ill be back. You can have this treat any time, but if
you can wait until I come back, you can have two of them. Two treats are better
than one, but to get the double treat, the child had to wait. Self-regulation was
required to resist that urge to gobble down the marshmallow on the table so
as to reap the larger reward.
Many situations in life demand similar delays for best results. Going to
college to get an education often means living in poverty and debt rather than
getting a job to earn money right away. But in the long run, the college degree
increases your lifetime income by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Very few
nonhuman animals can bring themselves to resist immediate temptations so
as to pursue future rewards, but this trait is an important key to success in
human life.
Benefits of Self-Control
People who are good at self-regulation do better than others in life. Follow-up
studies with Mischels samples found that the children who resisted temptation
and delayed gratification effectively grew into adults who were better than
others in school and work, more popular with other people, and who were rated
as nicer, better people by teachers and others (Mischel, Shoda, & Peake, 1988;
Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). College students with high self-control get
better grades, have better close relationships, manage their emotions better,
have fewer problems with drugs and alcohol, are less prone to eating disorders,
are better adjusted, have higher self-esteem, and get along better with other
people, as compared to people with low self-control (Tangney, Baumeister, &
Boone, 2004). They are happier and have less stress and conflict (Hofmann,
Vohs, Fisher, Luhmann, & Baumeister, 2013). Longitudinal studies have found
that children with good self-control go through life with fewer problems, are
more successful, are less likely to be arrested or have a child out of wedlock,
and enjoy other benefits (Moffitt et al., 2011). Criminologists have concluded
1515
that low self-control is aif not thekey trait for understanding the criminal
personality (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Pratt & Cullen, 2000).
Some researchers have searched for evidence that too much self-control
can be bad (Tangney et al., 2004)but without success. There is such a thing
as being highly inhibited or clinically over-controlled, which can impair
initiative and reduce happiness, but that does not appear to be an excess of
self-regulation. Rather, it may stem from having been punished excessively as
a child and, therefore, adopting a fearful, inhibited approach to life. In general,
self-control resembles intelligence in that the more one has, the better off one
is, and the benefits are found through a broad range of life activities.
Three Ingredients of Effective Self-Regulation

For self-regulation to be effective, three parts or ingredients are involved. The
first is standards, which are ideas about how things should (or should not) be.
The second is monitoring, which means keeping track of the target behavior
that is to be regulated. The third is the capacity to change.
Standards are an indispensable foundation for self-regulation. We already
saw that self-regulation means change in relation to some idea; without such
guiding ideas, change would largely be random and lacking direction. Standards
include goals, laws, moral principles, personal rules, other peoples
expectations, and social norms. Dieters, for example, typically have a goal in
terms of how much weight they wish to lose. They help their self-regulation
further by developing standards for how much or how little to eat and what
kinds of foods they will eat.
The second ingredient is monitoring. It is hard to regulate something without
being aware of it. For example, dieters count their calories. That is, they keep
track of how much they eat and how fattening it is. In fact, some evidence
suggests that dieters stop keeping track of how much they eat when they break
their diet or go on an eating binge, and the failure of monitoring contributes to
1516
eating more (Polivy, 1976). Alcohol has been found to impair all sorts of selfregulation, partly because intoxicated persons fail to keep track of their behavior
and compare it to their standards.
The combination of standards and monitoring was featured in an influential
theory about self-regulation by Carver and Scheier (1981, 1982, 1998). Those
researchers started their careers studying self-awareness, which is a key human
trait. The study of self-awareness recognized early on that people do not simply
notice themselves the way they might notice a tree or car. Rather, selfawareness always seemed to involve comparing oneself to a standard. For
example, when a man looks in a mirror, he does not just think, Oh, there I am,
but more likely thinks, Is my hair a mess? Do my clothes look good? Carver
and Scheier proposed that the reason for this comparison to standards is that
it enables people to regulate themselves, such as by changing things that do
not measure up to their standards. In the mirror example, the man might comb
his hair to bring it into line with his standards for personal appearance. Good
students keep track of their grades, credits, and progress toward their degree
and other goals. Athletes keep track of their times, scores, and achievements,
as a way to monitor improvement.
The process of monitoring oneself can be compared to how a thermostat
operates. The thermostat checks the temperature in the room, compares it to
a standard (the setting for desired temperature), and if those do not match, it
turns on the heat or air conditioner to change the temperature. It checks again
and again, and when the room temperature matches the desired setting, the
thermostat turns off the climate control. In the same way, people compare
themselves to their personal standards, make changes as needed, and stop
working on change once they have met their goals. People feel good not just
when they reach their goals but even when they deem they are making good
progress (Carver & Scheier, 1990). They feel bad when they are not making
sufficient progress.
1517
That brings up the third ingredient, which is the capacity to change oneself.
In effective self-regulation, people operate on themselves to bring about these
changes. The popular term for this is willpower, which suggests some kind of
energy is expended in the process. Psychologists hesitate to adopt terms
associated with folk wisdom, because there are many potential implications.
Here, the term is used to refer specifically to some energy that is involved in
the capacity to change oneself.
Consistent with the popular notion of willpower, people do seem to expend
some energy during self-regulation. Many studies have found that after people
exert self-regulation to change some response, they perform worse on the next
unrelated task if it too requires self-regulation (Hagger, Wood, Stiff, &
Chatzisarantis, 2010). That pattern suggests that some energy such as willpower
was used up during the first task, leaving less available for the second task. The
term for this state of reduced energy available for self-regulation is ego
depletion (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998). As people go about
their daily lives, they have to resist many desires and impulses and must control
themselves in other ways, and so over the course of a typical day many people
gradually become ego depleted. The result is that they become increasingly
likely to give in to impulses and desires that they would have resisted
successfully earlier in the day (Hofmann, Vohs, & Baumeister, 2012). During the
state of ego depletion, people become less helpful and more aggressive, prone
to overeat, misbehave sexually, express more prejudice, and in other ways do
things that they may later regret.
Thus, a persons capacity for self-regulation is not constant, but rather it
fluctuates. To be sure, some people are generally better than others at
controlling themselves (Tangney et al., 2004). But even someone with excellent
self-control may occasionally find that control breaks down under ego
depletion. In general, self-regulation can be improved by getting enough sleep
and healthy food, and by minimizing other demands on ones willpower.
1518
There is some evidence that regular exercise of self-control can build up

ones willpower, like strengthening a muscle (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011; Oaten
& Cheng, 2006). Even in early adulthood, ones self-control can be strengthened.
Furthermore, research has shown that disadvantaged, minority children who
take part in preschool programs such as Head Start (often based on the Perry
program) end up doing better in life even as adults. This was thought for a while
to be due to increases in intelligence quotient (IQ), but changes in IQ from such
programs are at best temporary. Instead, recent work indicates that
improvement in self-control and related traits may be what produce the benefits
(Heckman, Pinto, & Savelyev, in press). Its not doing math problems or learning
to spell at age 3 that increases subsequent adult successbut rather the benefit
comes from having some early practice at planning, getting organized, and
following rules.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is a stable dimension of personality, which means that some
people are typically higher on it than others. Being a personality trait does not
mean that it is unchangeable. Most people do show some changes over time,
particularly becoming higher on conscientiousness as they grow older. Some
psychologists look specifically at the trait of self-control, which is understood
(and measured) in personality psychology in a very specific, narrowly focused,
well-defined sense. Conscientiousness, in contrast, is one of five super-traits
that supposedly account for all the other traits, in various combinations. The
trait self-control is one big part of conscientiousness, but there are other parts.
Two aspects of conscientiousness that have been well documented are being
orderly and being industrious (Roberts, Lejuez, Krueger, Richards, & Hill, 2012).
Orderliness includes being clean and neat, making and following plans, and
being punctual (which is helpful with following plans!). Low conscientious means
the opposite: being disorganized, messy, late, or erratic. Being industrious not
1519
only means working hard but also persevering in the face of failures and
difficulties, as well as aspiring to excellence. Most of these reflect good selfcontrol.
Conscientious people are careful, disciplined, responsible, and thorough,
and they tend to plan and think things through before acting. People who are
low in conscientiousness tend to be more impulsive and spontaneous, even
reckless. They are easygoing and may often be late or sloppy, partly because
they are not strongly focused on future goals for success and not highly
concerned to obey all rules and stay on schedule. Psychologists prefer not to
make a value judgment about whether it is better to be high or low in any
personality trait. But when it comes specifically to self-control, it is difficult to
resist the conclusion that high self-control is better, both for the person and
for society at large.
Some aspects of conscientiousness have less apparent connection to selfcontrol, however. People high in conscientiousness tend to be decisive. They
are often formal, in the sense of following social norms and rules, such as
dressing properly, waiting ones turn, or holding doors for others. They tend to
respect traditions and traditional values.
Conscientious people behave differently from people who score low on that
trait. People scoring low on conscientiousness are more likely than others to
report driving without wearing seatbelts, daydreaming, swearing, telling dirty
jokes, and picking up hitchhikers (Hirsh, DeYoung, & Peterson, 2009). In terms
of more substantial life outcomes, people low on conscientiousness are more
likely than others to get divorced, presumably because they make bad choices
and misbehave during the marriage such as by saying hurtful things, getting
into arguments and fights, and behaving irresponsibly (Roberts, Jackson,
Fayard, Edmonds, & Meints, 2009). People low on conscientiousness are more
likely than others to lose their jobs, to become homeless, to do time in prison,
to have money problems, and to have drug problems.
1520
Conscientious people make better spouses. They are less likely than others
to get divorced, partly because they avoid many behaviors that undermine
intimacy, such as abusing their partners, drinking excessively, or having
extramarital affairs (Roberts et al., 2009).
Encompassing self-control, conscientiousness is the personality trait with
the strongest effect on life or death: People high on that trait live longer than
others (Deary, Weiss, & Batty, 2010). Why? Among other things, they avoid many
behavior patterns associated with early death, including alcohol abuse, obesity
and other eating problems, drug abuse, smoking, failure to exercise, risky sex,
suicide, violence, and unsafe driving (Bogg & Roberts, in press). They also visit
physicians more regularly and take their prescribed medicines more reliably
than people low in conscientiousness. Their good habits help avoid many lifethreatening diseases.
1521
Outside Resources
Book: For more advanced and in-depth coverage, consult The Handbook of
Self-Regulation (2nd Edition), edited by Kathleen Vohs and Roy Baumeister.
This book contains different chapters by different experts in the field,
covering large amounts of research findings.
Book: To read more, the easiest and most fun source would be The New York
Times bestseller Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, by
Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, published by Penguin. This is intended not
as a purely scientific work but as an entertaining summary for the general
public.
Video: For an enjoyable and brief re-enactment of Mischels marshmallow

studies on delay of gratification, try the following video. Watching those
children struggle to resist temptation is sure to bring a smile.
1. Why do you think criminals are often poor at self-regulation?
2. On average, children growing up without both parents present do worse at
many things, from math achievement in school to the likelihood of being
arrested for crimes. Might self-control be part of the explanation? Why?
3. Many people make New Years resolutions to change themselves in various
ways, but often they fail at these. Why?
4. Is good self-control something one is born with or something that is learned?
5. How would a parent teach his or her children to have good self-control?
6. Why are people with good self-control happier than other people?
Vocabulary
Conscientiousness
A personality trait consisting of self-control, orderliness, industriousness, and
traditionalism.
Ego depletion
The state of diminished willpower or low energy associated with having exerted
self-regulation.
Monitoring
Keeping track of a target behavior that is to be regulated.
Self-regulation
The process of altering ones responses, including thoughts, feelings, impulses,
actions, and task performance.
Standards
Ideas about how things should (or should not) be.
Reference List
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion:
Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social
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Baumeister, R. F., & Tierney, J. (2011). Willpower: Rediscovering the greatest
human strength. New York, NY: Penguin Press.
Bogg, T., & Roberts, B.W. (in press). The case for conscientiousness: Evidence
and implications for a personality trait marker of health and longevity.
Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier M. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A control
theory approach to human behavior. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. E. (1990). Origins and functions of positive and
negative affect: A control-process view. Psychological Review, 97, 1935.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1982). Control theory: A useful conceptual
framework for personality-social, clinical, and health psychology.
Deary, I. J., Weiss, A., & Batty, G. D. (2010). Intelligence and personality as
predictors of illness and death: How researchers in differential psychology
and chronic disease epidemiology are collaborating to understand and
address health inequalities. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 11,
5379.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press.
Hagger, M. S., Wood, C., Stiff, C. & Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2010). Ego depletion
and the strength model of self-control: A meta-analysis. Psychological
Bulletin, 136, 495525.
Heckman, J., Pinto, R., & Savelyev, P. (in press). Understanding the mechanisms
through which an influential early childhood program boosted adult
outcomes. American Economic Review.
Hirsh, J. B., DeYoung, C. G., & Peterson, J. B. (2009). Metatraits of the Big Five
differentially predict engagement and restraint of behavior. Journal of
Hofmann, W., Vohs, K. D., Fisher, R., Luhmann, M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2013).
Yes, but are they happy? Effects of trait self-control on affective well-being
and life satisfaction. Manuscript submitted for publication. University of
Chicago.
Hofmann, W., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2012). What people desire, feel
conflicted about, and try to resist in everyday life. Psychological Science, 23,
582-588. doi: 10.1177/0956797612437426
Mischel, W. (1974). Processes in delay of gratification. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),
Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 249292). San Diego,
CA: Academic Press.
Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Peake, P. (1988). The nature of adolescent competencies
predicted by preschool delay of gratification. Journal of Personality and
Moffitt, T. E., Arsenault, L. Belsky, D., Dickson, N. Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H.,
Houts, R., Poulton, R., Roberts, B. W., Ross, S., Sears, M. R., Thomson, W. M.,
& Caspi, A. (2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health,
wealth, and public safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
108, 26932698.
Oaten, M., & Cheng, K. (2006). Improved self-control: The benefits of a regular
program of academic study. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 28, 116.
Polivy, J. (1976). Perception of calories and regulation of intake in restrained and
unrestrained subjects. Addictive Behaviors, 1, 237-243.
Pratt, T. C., & Cullen, F. T. (2000). The empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschis
general theory of crime: A meta-analysis. Criminology, 38, 931964.
Roberts, B. W., Jackson, J. J., Fayard, J. V., Edmonds, G., & Meints, J. (2009).
Conscientiousness. In M. Leary & R. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual
differences in social behavior (pp. 369381). New York, NY: Guilford.
Roberts, B. W., Lejuez, C., Krueger, R. F., Richards, J. M., & Hill, P. L. (2012). What
is conscientiousness and how can it be assessed? Developmental
Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0031109
Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Peake, P. K. (1990). Predicting adolescent cognitive and
self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification:
Identifying diagnostic conditions. Developmental Psychology, 26, 978986.
Tangney, J. P., Baumeister, R. F., & Boone, A. L. (2004). High self-control predicts
good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success.
Journal of Personality, 72, 271322.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Self-Regulation and Conscientiousness by Roy

F. Baumeister is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Creativity
Dean Keith Simonton
nobaproject.com
Abstract
An idea or solution is considered creative if it is original, useful, and surprising.
However, depending on who actually judges these three criteria, we must
distinguish personal little-c creativity from consensual Big-C Creativity. In
any case, psychologists who investigate creativity most often adopt one of three
perspectives. First, they can ask how creators think, and thus focus on the
cognitive processes behind creativity. Second, they can ask who is creative, and
hence investigate the personal characteristics of highly creative people. Third,
they can ask about the social context, and, thereby, examine the environments
that influence creativity. Although psychologists have made major advances in
the study of creativity, many exciting and important questions remain to be
answered.
Learning Objectives
Comprehend
an idea is
Appreciate
the three criteria that have to be satisfied to conclude that
creative.
some of the cognitive processes that provide the basis for
creativity.
Know
some of the personal characteristics of highly creative people.
Understand
how certain social environments influence creativity.
What do the following have in common: the drug penicillin, the Eiffel Tower, the
film Lord of the Rings, the General Theory of Relativity, the hymn Amazing Grace,
the iPhone, the novel Don Quixote, the painting The Mona Lisa, a recipe for
chocolate fudge, the soft drink Coca-Cola, the video game Wii Sports, the West
Coast offense in football, and the zipper? You guessed right! All of the named
items were products of the creative mind. Not one of them existed until
somebody came up with the idea. Creativity is not something that you just pick
like apples from a tree. Because creative ideas are so special, creators who come
up with the best ideas are often highly rewarded with fame, fortune, or both.
Nobel Prizes, Oscars, Pulitzers, and other honors bring fame, and big sales and
box office bring fortune. Yet what is creativity in the first place?
Creativity: What Is It?

Creativity happens when someone comes up with a creative idea. An example
would be a creative solution to a difficult problem. But what makes an idea or
solution creative? Although psychologists have offered several definitions
(Plucker, Beghetto, & Dow, 2004; Runco & Jaeger, 2012), probably the best
definition is the one recently adapted from the three criteria that the U.S. Patent
Office uses to decide whether an invention can receive patent protection
(Simonton, 2012).
The first criterion is originality. The idea must have a low probability. Indeed,
it often should be unique. Albert Einsteins special theory of relativity certainly
satisfied this criterion. No other scientist came up with the idea.
The second criterion is usefulness. The idea should be valuable or work. For
example, a solution must, in fact, solve the problem. An original recipe that
produces a dish that tastes too terrible to eat cannot be creative. In the case of
Einsteins theory, his relativity principle provided explanations for what
otherwise would be inexplicable empirical results.
nobaproject.com - Creativity
1533
The third and last criterion is surprise. The idea should be surprising, or at
least nonobvious (to use the term used by the Patent Office). For instance, a
solution that is a straightforward derivation from acquired expertise cannot be
considered surprising even if it were original. Einsteins relativity theory was not
a step-by-step deduction from classical physics but rather the theory was built
upon a new foundation that challenged the very basis of traditional physics.
When applying these three criteria, it is critical to recognize that originality,
usefulness, and surprise are all quantitative rather than qualitative attributes
of an idea. Specifically, we really have to speak of degree to which an idea
satisfies each of the three criteria. In addition, the three attributes should have
a zero point, that is, it should be possible to speak of an idea lacking any
originality, usefulness, or surprise whatsoever. Finally, we have to assume that
if an idea scores zero on any one criterion then it must have zero creativity as
well. For example, someone who reinvents the wheel is definitely producing a
useful idea, but the idea has zero originality and hence no creativity whatsoever.
Similarly, someone who invented a parachute made entirely out of steel
reinforced concrete would get lots of credit for originalityand surprise!but
none for usefulness.
Yet, certainly, we have to ask: Who makes these judgments? The person who
generated the idea or other people who the person expects to appreciate the
idea? If the former, we can speak of subjective or personal little-c creativity,
and if the later, we have objective or consensual Big-C Creativity (Simonton,
in press). This distinction is important because sometimes personal and
consensual assessments do not have to agree. Such disagreements are
especially conspicuous in neglected geniuses, such as the poet Emily
Dickinson, the painter Vincent Van Gogh, and the scientist Gregor Mendelall
producing ideas that received only posthumous recognition for their creativity.
1534
Creativity is a very complex phenomenon (Hennessey & Amabile, 2010;

Runco, 2004). As a result, psychologists who study creativity can do so from
many different perspectives. Nevertheless, the three most common
perspectives are cognitive processes, personal characteristics, and social
contexts.
Cognitive Processes: How Do Creators Think?

Cognitive scientists have long been interested in the thinking processes that
lead to creative ideas (Simonton & Damian, 2013). Indeed, many so-called
creativity tests are actually measures of the thought processes believed to
underlie the creative act (Simonton, 2003b). The following two measures are
among the best known.
The first is the Remote Associates Test, or RAT, that was introduced by
Mednick (1962). Mednick believed that the creative process requires the ability
to associate ideas that are considered very far apart conceptually. The RAT
consists of items that require the respondent to identify a word that can be
associated to three rather distinct stimulus words. For example, what word can
be associated with the words widow, bite, monkey? The answer is spider (black
widow spider, spider bite, spider monkey). This particular question is relatively
easy, others are much more difficult, but it gives you the basic idea.
The second measure is the Unusual Uses Task (Guilford, 1967; Torrance,
1974). Here, the participant is asked to generate alternative uses for a common
object, such as a brick. The responses can be scored on four dimensions: (a)
fluency, the total number of appropriate uses generated; (b) originality, the
statistical rarity of the uses given; (c) flexibility, the number of distinct conceptual
categories implied by the various uses; and (d) elaboration, the amount of detail
given for the generated uses. For example, using a brick as a paperweight
represents a different conceptual category that using its volume to conserve
water in a toilet tank. The capacity to produce unusual uses is but one example
1535
of the general cognitive ability to engage in divergent thinking (Guilford, 1967).

Unlike convergent thinking, which converges on the single best answer or
solution, divergent thinking comes up with multiple possibilities that might vary
greatly in usefulness.
Unfortunately, many different cognitive processes have been linked to
creativity (Simonton & Damian, 2013). That is why we cannot use the singular;
there is no such thing as the creative process. Nonetheless, the various
processes do share one feature: All enable the person to think outside the box
imposed by routine thinkingto venture into territory that would otherwise be
ignored (Simonton, 2011). Creativity requires that you go where you dont know
where youre going.
Personal Characteristics: Who Is Creative?

Can anybody be creative? Or is creativity subject to individual differences, such
as intelligence? Might creativity even be normally distributed just like scores on
IQ tests? The answer is complex. Unlike general intelligence, which represents
a more or less cohesive cognitive ability, creativity is just as much a personal
attribute as an intellectual capacity. This feature is evident in the fact that some
creativity tests are actually measures of personality, interests, and values
(Simonton, 2003b). An example is the Creative Personality Scale of the Gough
Adjective Check List (Gough, 1979; see also Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005).
In this measure, a person is asked to check off whatever adjectives are viewed
as especially self-descriptive. The relevant adjectives are shown in Table 1. How
would you describe yourself? Would you use more adjectives in the left column
or the right column?
1536
Table 1. The Creative Personality Scale of the Gough (1979) Adjective Check List. Note. The
Adjective Check List actually contains 300 adjectives arranged in alphabetical order from
absent-minded to zany, but the above adjectives are the only ones scored.
Another reason to speak of the creative personality is that creativity

correlates with scores on standard personality measures (Feist, 1998). Most
notably, the creative person is more likely to score on the openness-toexperience factor of the Big Five Factor Model (Carson, Peterson, & Higgins,
2005; Harris, 2004; McCrae, 1987). This factor concerns whether a person has
a strong intellectual curiosity, preference for variety, and an active imagination
and is aesthetically sensitive, attentive to inner feelings, as well as receptive to
new ideas and values. It would seem obvious that persons high on this factor
would behave differently than those scoring low. For instance, we would expect
1537
such persons to be less conventional, to have a wider range of leisure activities,

and to be more versatile. Yet, it is equally important to note that people high
in openness also think differently. Besides scoring higher in divergent thinking
(Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005), openness is also associated with the
diminished capacity to filter out extraneous information, a tendency often
called cognitive disinhibition or reduced latent inhibition (Peterson & Carson,
2000). This defocused attention enables the creative person to make
observations that others would overlooksuch as what happens in
serendipitous discovery. A classic example was when Alexander Flemming
noticed that a bacteria culture was being killed by a certain mold, a discovery
that directly led to penicillin.
Now you may wonder, isnt cognitive disinhibition a bad way of thinking?
Isnt it a good thing to be able to ignore irrelevant stimuli? The answer is yes. In
fact, reduced latent inhibition is also connected with mental illness (Carson,
2011; Eysenck, 1995). Thus arises a link between creativity and psychopathology
(Simonton, 2010). Even so, creative individuals are seldom outright mentally ill.
Instead, creators possess other personal traits and capacities that convert a
potential cognitive disability into an exceptional ability (Carson, 2011). Among
the most important of these characteristics is high general intelligence (Carson,
Peterson, & Higgins, 2005; Kri, 2011). The creator then has the capacity not
just to generate original and surprising ideas but also to test and develop them
for usefulness. Mental illness arises when the person always skips the last step
the reality check.
At this point, we must add an important qualification: For Big-C Creativity,
you have to have more going for you than boasting a creative personality that
can engage in creative thought. You also must acquire appropriate expertise in
the domain in which you hope to make creative contributions. Einstein had to
learn physics and mathematics; Leonardo da Vinci had to learn how to draw
and paint. In fact, it typically requires about a decade of extensive training and
practice before a person can become a Big-C Creator (Ericsson, 1996). Even so,
1538
just because you become an expert in your field it does not mean that youll be
creative, too.
Social Contexts: What Environments Affect Creativity?

Although creativity is often viewed as an entirely psychological phenomenon,
research by social psychologists shows that certain social environments have
a part to play as well. These contextual influences can assume many forms.
Sometimes these effects are relatively short term or transient. Other times the
effects can be more long lasting.
To illustrate the former possibility, creativity is often enhanced when persons
are exposed to incongruous or novel stimuli. For example, one recent
experiment used virtual reality to create three conditions (Ritter et al., 2012). In
one condition, participants walked around in a room in which the normal laws
of physics were violated. Objects fell up rather than fell down, and the objects
got smaller as you approached them rather than getting bigger. In a second
condition, the participants were in the same virtual reality situation, but
everything behaved as it would in normal reality. In the third and last condition,
the participants merely saw a film clip of what the participants in the first
condition experienceda passive rather than active exposure to an
otherworldly environment. Only those who directly experienced the strange
environment showed an increase in cognitive flexibility, an important
component of creativity, as noted earlier. In a second experiment, the
participants were again subjected to three conditions, but this time the
manipulation concerned cultural scriptsin this case, the customary way to
make a popular breakfast meal. Only those participants who directly
experienced the violation of the norms showed an increase in cognitive
flexibility. Those who made breakfast the normal way or who vicariously
watched somebody else make breakfast an unusual way showed no effect.
1539
The above effect is most likely transient. It is doubtful that those participants
exposed to such incongruous experiences would exhibit any long-term change
in their creativity. But what would happen if the exposure was much longer,
years rather than minutes? Then the benefit might endure a lifetime. An
example is the long-term benefits that accrue to persons who have acquired
multicultural experiences, such as living in a foreign country for a significant
amount of time (Leung, Maddux, Galinsky, & Chiu, 2008). Daily life abroad
exposes a person to different ways of doing everyday activities. Moreover,
because the visitor quickly learns that when in Rome do as the Romans do,
the exposure becomes direct rather than vicarious (Maddux, Adam, & Galinsky,
2010). To be sure, not everybodys creativity benefits from multicultural
environments. The person also has to score high on openness to experience
(Leung & Chiu, 2008). Otherwise, they will close themselves off from the
potential stimulation, and then just gripe about the peculiar customs of the
natives rather than actively practice those customssuch as making a totally
different breakfast!
Finally, both little-c and Big-C creativitybut especially the latterare more
likely to appear in specific sociocultural systems (Simonton, 2003a). Some
political, social, cultural, and economic environments are supportive of
exceptional creativity, whereas others tend to suppress if not destroy creativity.
For this reason, the history of any civilization or nation tends to have Dark
Ages as well as Golden Ages. Early medieval Europe illustrates the former,
while Renaissance Italy exemplifies the latter. It would take us too far beyond
introductory psychology to discuss all of the relevant factors. Yet, one factor fits
nicely with what was discussed in the previous paragraph. Highly creative
societies are far more likely to be multicultural, with abundant influences from
other civilizations. For instance, Japanese civilization tended to undergo a revival
of creativity after the infusion of new ideas from other civilizations, including
Korean, Chinese, Indian, and European (Simonton, 1997). This influx involved
not just Japanese living abroad but also non-Japanese immigrating to Japan.
1540
Conclusion
Creativity certainly must be considered a crucial human behavior. Indeed, like
language, creativity sets Homo sapiens well apart from even our closest
evolutionary relatives. It is virtually impossible to imagine a world in which all
of the products of the creative mind were removed. I couldnt even type this
very sentence at this instant. Even the alphabet was invented. Creativity
permeates every aspect of modern life: technology, science, literature, the visual
arts, music, cooking, sports, politics, war, business, advertising ... well, I could
go on and on. Fortunately, psychologists have made major strides in
understanding the phenomenon. In fact, some of the best studies of creativity
are also excellent examples of scientific creativity. At the same time, it remains
clear that we still have a long ways to go before we know everything we need
to know about the psychology of creativity. Hence, creativity research has a
bright future.
1541
Outside Resources
Video: Amy Tan: Where does creativity hide?
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_tan_on_creativity.html
Video: Creativity science
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Video: How to be creative
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Web: American Creativity Association
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Web: Be More Creative
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Web: Creating Minds
http://creatingminds.org/
Web: Creative Quotations
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Web: Creativity at Work
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1. To be
creative an idea must be useful.
Although it is easy to see how
a new invention can be useful, what does it

or artistic composition to be useful?
mean for a scientific discovery
When, in 1865, Mendel discovered
that the traits of peas were inherited
according to genetic laws, what
possible use could that finding have at
the time? What conceivable utility
could there be for a painting by Van
Gogh or a poem by Dickinson? Should
some other word be used, such as valuable or appropriate? Or, should we

acknowledge that a theory,
than an invention? Can a
our intellectual curiosity
2. Computers
painting, or poem is useful in a different way

new idea be creative just because it satisfies
or aesthetic appreciation?
can do some amazing thingssuch as beat humans at chess
and Jeopardy! But, do you think that
they can ever display genuine
creativity? Will a computer one day make a

a poem that earns it a Nobel Prize? If not,
the award money, the computer or the
3. All
scientific discovery or write

why not? If so, who should get
computers programmer?
of the personal characteristics of very creative people are also highly
inheritable. For instance, intelligence, openness to experience, and

cognitive disinhibition all have a partial genetic basis. Does
that mean
that creators are born and not made?

4. Highly
If
creative people believe that they possess certain personality traits.

you make yourself have the same traits, will that make you more
creative?
egotistical,
For example, will you become more creative if you become more
individualistic, informal, reflective, self-confident, sexy, and
unconventional? Or, how about widening your interests and becoming more
open to experience? Which comes first, the personality or the capacity?
Vocabulary
Big-C Creativity
Creative ideas that have an impact well beyond the everyday life of home or
work. At the highest level, this kind of creativity is that of the creative genius.
Convergent thinking
The opposite of divergent thinking, the capacity to narrow in on the single
correct answer or solution to a given question or problem (e.g., giving the right
response on an intelligence tests).
Divergent thinking
The opposite of convergent thinking, the capacity for exploring multiple
potential answers or solutions to a given question or problem (e.g., coming up
with many different uses for a common object).
Latent inhibition
The ability to filter out extraneous stimuli, concentrating only on the information
that is deemed relevant. Reduced latent inhibition is associated with higher
creativity.
Little-c creativity
Creative ideas that appear at the personal level, whether the home or the
workplace. Such creativity needs not have a larger impact to be considered
creative.
Multicultural experiences
Individual exposure to two or more cultures, such as obtained by living abroad,
emigrating to another country, or working or going to school in a culturally
diverse setting.
Openness to experience
One of the factors of the Big Five Model of personality, the factor assesses the
degree that a person is open to different or new values, interests, and activities.
Originality
When an idea or solution has a low probability of occurrence.
Remote associations
Associations between words or concepts that are semantically distant and thus
relatively unusual or original.
Unusual uses
A test of divergent thinking that asks participants to find many uses for
commonplace objects, such as a brick or paperclip.
Reference List
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structure of the Creative Achievement Questionnaire. Creativity Research
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Carson, S. H. (2011). Creativity and psychopathology: A shared vulnerability
model. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56, 144-153.
Ericsson, K. A. (1996). The acquisition of expert performance: An introduction
to some of the issues. In K. A. Ericsson (Ed.), The road to expert performance:
Empirical evidence from the arts and sciences, sports, and games (pp. 1
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Eysenck, H. J. (1995). Genius: The natural history of creativity. Cambridge, UK:
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Gough, H. G. (1979). A creative personality scale for the adjective check list.
Guilford, J. P. (1967). The nature of human intelligence. New York, NY: McGrawHill.
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Hennessey, B. A., & Amabile, T. M. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of

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social
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achievements. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5, 215221.

Leung, A. K., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., & Chiu, C. (2008). Multicultural
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Leung, A. K., & Chiu, C. (2008). Interactive effects of multicultural experiences
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Maddux, W. W., Adam, H., & Galinsky, A. D. (2010). When in Rome ... learn why
the Romans do what they do: How multicultural learning experiences
facilitate creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 731741.
McCrae, R. R. (1987). Creativity, divergent thinking, and openness to experience.
Mednick, S. A. (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological
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Peterson, J. B., & Carson, S. (2000). Latent inhibition and openness to experience
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Differences, 28, 323332.
Plucker, J. A., Beghetto, R. A., & Dow, G. T. (2004). Why isnt creativity more
important to educational psychologists? Potentials, pitfalls, and future

directions in creativity research. Educational Psychologist, 39, 8396.
Ritter, S. M., Damian, R. I., Simonton, D. K., van Baaren, R. B., Strick, M., Derks,
J., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2012). Diversifying experiences enhance cognitive
flexibility. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 961964.
Runco, M. (2004). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 657687.
Runco, M., & Jaeger, G. J. (2012). The standard definition of creativity. Creativity
Research Journal, 21, 9296.
Simonton, D. K (in press). What is a creative idea? Little-c versus Big-C creativity.
In J. Chan & K. Thomas (Eds.), Handbook of research on creativity.
Cheltenham Glos, UK: Edward Elgar.
Simonton, D. K. (2012). Taking the U.S. Patent Office creativity criteria seriously:
A quantitative three-criterion definition and its implications. Creativity
Research Journal, 24, 97106.
Simonton, D. K. (2011). Creativity and discovery as blind variation: Campbells
(1960) BVSR model after the half-century mark. Review of General
Simonton, D. K. (2010). So you want to become a creative genius? You must be
crazy! In D. Cropley, J. Kaufman, A. Cropley, & M. Runco (Eds.), The dark side
of creativity (pp. 218234). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Simonton, D. K. (2003a). Creative cultures, nations, and civilizations: Strategies
and results. In P. B. Paulus, & B. A. Nijstad (Eds.), Group creativity: Innovation
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(Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychological assessment (Vol. 1, pp. 276280).
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Creativity by Dean Keith Simonton is licensed
deed.en_US.
Self-Efficacy
James E Maddux & Evan Kleiman
George Mason University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The term self-efficacy refers to your beliefs about your ability to effectively
perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal. Self-efficacy does not refer
to your abilities but to how strongly you believe you can use your abilities to
work toward goals. Self-efficacy is not a unitary construct or trait; rather, people
have self-efficacy beliefs in different domains, such as academic self-efficacy,
problem-solving self-efficacy, and self-regulatory self-efficacy. Stronger selfefficacy beliefs are associated with positive outcomes, such as better grades,
greater athletic performance, happier romantic relationships, and a healthier
lifestyle.
Learning Objectives
Define self-efficacy.
List the major factors that influence self-efficacy.
Explain how self-efficacy develops.
Understand the influence of self-efficacy on psychological and physical

health andwell-being as well as academic and vocational success.
Define collective efficacy and explain why it is important.
Introduction: What Is Self-Efficacy?

Imagine two students, Sally and Lucy, who are about to take the same math
test. Sally and Lucy have the same exact ability to do well in math, the same
level of intelligence, and the same motivation to do well on the test. They also
studied together. They even have the same brand of shoes on. The only
difference between the two is that Sally is very confident in her mathematical
and her test-taking abilities, while Lucy is not. So, who is likely to do better on
the test? Sally, of course, because she has the confidence to use her
mathematical and test-taking abilities to deal with challenging math problems
and to accomplish goals that are important to herin this case, doing well on
the test. This difference between Sally and Lucythe student who got the A
and the student who got the B-, respectivelyis self-efficacy. As you will read
later, self-efficacy influences behavior and emotions in particular ways that help
people better manage challenges and achieve valued goals.
A concept that was first introduced by Albert Bandura in 1977, self-efficacy
refers to a persons beliefs that he or she is able to effectively perform the tasks
needed to attain a valued goal (Bandura, 1977). Since then, self-efficacy has
become one of the most thoroughly researched concepts in psychology. Just
about every important domain of human behavior has been investigated using
self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997; Maddux, 1995; Maddux & Gosselin, 2011,
2012). Self-efficacy does not refer to your abilities but rather to your beliefs
about what you can do with your abilities. Also, self-efficacy is not a traitthere
are not certain types of people with high self-efficacies and others with low selfefficacies (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998). Rather, people have self-efficacy beliefs
about specific goals and life domains. For example, if you believe that you have
the skills necessary to do well in school and believe you can use those skills to
excel, then you have high academic self-efficacy.
nobaproject.com - Self-Efficacy
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Self-efficacy may sound similar to a concept you may be familiar with already
self-esteembut these are very different notions. Self-esteem refers to how
much you like or esteem yourselfto what extent you believe you are a good
and worthwhile person. Self-efficacy, however, refers to your self-confidence
to perform well and to achieve in specific areas of life such as school, work, and
relationships. Self-efficacy does influence self-esteem because how you feel
about yourself overall is greatly influenced by your confidence in your ability to
perform well in areas that are important to you and to achieve valued goals.
For example, if performing well in athletics is very important to you, then your
self-efficacy for athletics will greatly influence your self-esteem; however, if
performing well in athletics is not at all important you to you, then your selfefficacy for athletics will probably have little impact on your self-esteem.
How Do We Measure Self-Efficacy?

Like many other concepts in psychology, self-efficacy is not necessarily
measured in a straightforward manner and requires much thought to be
measured accurately. Self-efficacy is unlike weight, which is simple to objectively
measure by using a scale, or height, which is simple to objectively measure by
using a tape measure. Rather, self-efficacy is an abstract concept you cant touch
or see. To measure an abstract concept like self-efficacy, we use something
called a self-report measure. A self-report measure is a type of questionnaire,
like a survey, where people answer questions usually with answers that
correspond to numerical values that can be added to create an overall index of
some construct. For example, a well-known self-report measure is the Perceived
Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). It asks questions like, In
the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that
happened unexpectedly? and In the last month, how often have you been
angered because of things that were outside of your control? Participants
answer the questions on a 1 through 5 scale, where 1 means not often and 5
1556
means very often. Then all of the answers are summed together to create a
total stress score, with higher scores equating to higher levels of stress. It is
very important to develop tools to measure self-efficacy that take peoples
subjective beliefs about their self-efficacy and turn them into the most objective
possible measure. This means that one persons score of 6 out of 10 on a
measure of self-efficacy will be similar to another persons score of 6 out of 10
on the same measure.
We will discuss two broad types of self-report measures for self-efficacy. The
first category includes measures of general self-efficacy (e.g., Schwarzer &
Jerusalem, 1995; Sherer et al., 1982). These scales ask people to rate themselves
on general items, such as It is easy for me to stick to my aims and accomplish
my goals and I can usually handle whatever comes my way. If you remember
from earlier in this chapter, however, self-efficacy is not a global trait, so there
are problems with lumping all types of self-efficacy together in one measure.
Thus, the second category of self-efficacy measures includes task-specific
measures of self-efficacy. Rather than gauge self-efficacy in general, these
measures ask about a persons self-efficacy beliefs about a particular task. There
can be an unlimited number of these types of measures. Task-specific measures
of self-efficacy describe several situations relating to a behavior and then ask
the participant to write down how confidently he or she feels about doing that
behavior. For example, a measure of dieting self-efficacy would list a variety of
situations where it can be hard to stick to a dietsuch as during vacations,
when bored, or when going out to eat with others who are not on a diet. A
measure of exercise self-efficacy would list a variety of situations where it can
be hard to exercisesuch as when feeling depressed, when feeling tired, and
when you are with other people who do not want to exercise. Finally, a measure
of childrens or teens self-regulatory self-efficacy would include a variety of
situations where it can be hard to resist impulsessuch as controlling temper,
resisting peer pressure to smoke cigarettes, and defying pressure to have
unprotected sex. Most studies agree that the task-specific measures of selfnobaproject.com - Self-Efficacy
1557
efficacy are better predictors of behavior than the general measures of selfefficacy (Bandura, 2006).
What Are the Major Influences on Self-Efficacy?

Self-efficacy beliefs are influenced in five different ways (Bandura, 1997), which
are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Major Influences on Self-efficacy
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These five types of self-efficacy influence can take many real-world forms
that almost everyone has experienced. You may have had previous
performance experiences affect your academic self-efficacy when you did well
on a test and believed that you would do well on the next test. A vicarious
performance may have affected your athletic self-efficacy when you saw your
best friend skateboard for the first time and thought that you could skateboard
well, too. Verbal persuasion could have affected your academic self-efficacy
when a teacher that you respect told you that you could get into the college of
your choice if you studied hard for the SATs. Its important to know that not all
people are equally likely to influence your self-efficacy though verbal
persuasion. People who appear trustworthy or attractive, or who seem to be
experts, are more likely to influence your self-efficacy than are people who do
not possess these qualities (Petty & Brinol, 2010). Thats why a teacher you
respect is more likely to influence your self-efficacy than a teacher you do not
respect. Imaginal performances are an effective way to increase your selfefficacy. For example, imagining yourself doing well on a job interview actually
leads to more effective interviewing (Knudstrup, Segrest, & Hurley, 2003).
Affective states and physical sensations abound when you think about the times
you have given presentations in class. For example, you may have felt your
heart racing while giving a presentation. If you believed your heart was racing
because you had just had a lot of caffeine, it likely would not affect your
performance. If you believed your heart was racing because you were doing a
poor job, you might believe that you cannot give the presentation well. This is
because you associate the feeling of anxiety with failure and expect to fail when
you are feeling anxious.
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When and How Does Self-Efficacy Develop?

Self-efficacy begins to develop in very young children. Once self-efficacy is
developed, it does not remain constantit can change and grow as an individual
has different experiences throughout his or her lifetime. When children are very
young, their parents self-efficacies are important (Jones & Prinz, 2005). Children
of parents who have high parental self-efficacies perceive their parents as more
responsive to their needs (Gondoli & Silverberg, 1997). Around the ages of 12
through 16, adolescents friends also become an important source of selfefficacy beliefs. Adolescents who associate with peer groups that are not
academically motivated tend to experience a decline in academic self-efficacy
(Wentzel, Barry, & Caldwell, 2004). Adolescents who watch their peers succeed,
however, experience a rise in academic self-efficacy (Schunk & Miller, 2002).
This is an example of gaining self-efficacy through vicarious performances, as
discussed above. The effects of self-efficacy that develop in adolescence are
long lasting. One study found that greater social and academic self-efficacy
measured in people ages 14 to 18 predicted greater life satisfaction five years
later (Vecchio, Gerbino, Pastorelli, Del Bove, & Caprara, 2007).
What Are the Benefits of High Self-Efficacy?

Academic Achievement
Consider academic self-efficacy in your own life and recall the earlier example
of Sally and Lucy. Are you more like Sally, who has high academic self-efficacy
and believes that she can use her abilities to do well in school, or are you more
like Lucy, who does not believe that she can effectively use her academic abilities
to excel in school? Do you think your own self-efficacy has ever affected your
academic ability? Do you think you have ever studied more or less intensely
1560
because you did or did not believe in your abilities to do well? Many researchers
have considered how self-efficacy works in academic settings, and the short
answer is that academic self-efficacy affects every possible area of academic
achievement (Pajares, 1996).
Students who believe in their ability to do well academically tend to be more
motivated in school (Schunk, 1991). When self-efficacious students attain their
goals, they continue to set even more challenging goals (Schunk, 1990). This
can all lead to better performance in school in terms of higher grades and taking
more challenging classes (Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991). For example, students
with high academic self-efficacies might study harder because they believe that
they are able to use their abilities to study effectively. Because they studied
hard, they receive an A on their next test. Teachers self-efficacies also can affect
how well a student performs in school. Self-efficacious teachers encourage
parents to take a more active role in their childrens learning, leading to better
academic performance (Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, & Brissie, 1987).
Although there is a lot of research about how self-efficacy is beneficial to
school-aged children, college students can also benefit from self-efficacy.
Freshmen with higher self-efficacies about their ability to do well in college tend
to adapt to their first year in college better than those with lower self-efficacies
(Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001). The benefits of self-efficacy continue beyond
the school years: people with strong self-efficacy beliefs toward performing well
in school tend to perceive a wider range of career options (Lent, Brown, & Larkin,
1986). In addition, people who have stronger beliefs of self-efficacy toward their
professional work tend to have more successful careers (Stajkovic & Luthans,
1998).
One question you might have about self-efficacy and academic performance
is how a students actual academic ability interacts with self-efficacy to influence
academic performance. The answer is that a students actual ability does play
a role, but it is also influenced by self-efficacy. Students with greater ability
perform better than those with lesser ability. But, among a group of students
1561
with the same exact level of academic ability, those with stronger academic selfefficacies outperform those with weaker self-efficacies. One study (Collins,
1984) compared performance on difficult math problems among groups of
students with different levels of math ability and different levels of math selfefficacy. Among a group of students with average levels of math ability, the
students with weak math self-efficacies got about 25% of the math problems
correct. The students with average levels of math ability and strong math selfefficacies got about 45% of the questions correct. This means that by just having
stronger math self-efficacy, a student of average math ability will perform 20%
better than a student with similar math ability but weaker math self-efficacy.
You might also wonder if self-efficacy makes a difference only for people with
average or below-average abilities. Self-efficacy is important even for aboveaverage students. In this study, those with above-average math abilities and
low math self-efficacies answered only about 65% of the questions correctly;
those with above-average math abilities and high math self-efficacies answered
about 75% of the questions correctly.
Healthy Behaviors
Think about a time when you tried to improve your health, whether through
dieting, exercising, sleeping more, or any other way. Would you be more likely
to follow through on these plans if you believed that you could effectively use
your skills to accomplish your health goals? Many researchers agree that people
with stronger self-efficacies for doing healthy things (e.g., exercise self-efficacy,
dieting self-efficacy) engage in more behaviors that prevent health problems
and improve overall health (Strecher, DeVellis, Becker, & Rosenstock, 1986).
People who have strong self-efficacy beliefs about quitting smoking are able to
quit smoking more easily (DiClemente, Prochaska, & Gibertini, 1985). People
who have strong self-efficacy beliefs about being able to reduce their alcohol
consumption are more successful when treated for drinking problems (Maisto,
1562
Connors, & Zywiak, 2000). People who have stronger self-efficacy beliefs about
their ability to recover from heart attacks do so more quickly than those who
do not have such beliefs (Ewart, Taylor, Reese, & DeBusk, 1983).
One group of researchers (Roach Yadrick, Johnson, Boudreaux, Forsythe, &
Billon, 2003) conducted an experiment with people trying to lose weiht. All
people in the study participated in a weight loss program that was designed for
the U.S. Air Force. This program had already been found to be very effective,
but the researchers wanted to know if increasing peoples self-efficacies could
make the program even more effective. So, they divided the participants into
two groups: one group received an intervention that was designed to increase
weight loss self-efficacy along with the diet program, and the other group
received only the diet program. The researchers tried several different ways to
increase self-efficacy, such as having participants read a copy of Oh, The Places
Youll Go! by Dr. Seuss (1990), and having them talk to someone who had
successfully lost weight. The people who received the diet program and an
intervention to increase self-efficacy lost an average of 8.2 pounds over the 12
weeks of the study; those participants who had only the diet program lost only
5.8 pounds. Thus, just by increasing weight loss self-efficacy, participants were
able to lose over 50% more weight.
Studies have found that increasing a persons nutritional self-efficacy can
lead them to eat more fruits and vegetables (Luszczynska, Tryburcy, &
Schwarzer, 2006). Self-efficacy plays a large role in successful physical exercise
(Maddux & Dawson, 2014). People with stronger self-efficacies for exercising
are more likely to plan on beginning an exercise program, actually beginning
that program (DuCharme & Brawley, 1995), and continuing it (Marcus, Selby,
Niaura, & Rossi, 1992). Self-efficacy is especially important when it comes to
safe sex. People with greater self-efficacies about condom usage are more likely
to engage in safe sex (Kaneko, 2007), making them more likely to avoid sexually
transmitted diseases, such as HIV (Forsyth & Carey, 1998).
1563
Athletic Performance
If you are an athlete, self-efficacy is especially important in your life. Professional
and amateur athletes with stronger self-efficacy beliefs about their athletic
abilities perform better than athletes with weaker levels of self-efficacy
(Wurtele, 1986). This holds true for athletes in all types of sports, including track
and field (Gernigon & Delloye, 2003), tennis (Sheldon & Eccles, 2005), and golf
(Bruton, Mellalieu, Shearer, Roderique-Davies, & Hall, 2013). One group of
researchers found that basketball players with strong athletic self-efficacy
beliefs hit more foul shots than did basketball players with weak self-efficacy
beliefs (Haney & Long, 1995). These researchers also found that the players
who hit more foul shots had greater increases in self-efficacy after they hit the
foul shots compared to those who hit fewer foul shots and did not experience
increases in self-efficacy. This is an example of how we gain self-efficacy through
performance experiences.
Self-Regulation
One of the major reasons that higher self-efficacy usually leads to better
performance and greater success is that self-efficacy is an important
component of self-regulation. Self-regulation is the complex process through
which you control your thoughts, emotions, and actions (Gross, 1998). It is
crucial to success and well-being in almost every area of your life. Every day,
you are exposed to situations where you might want to act or feel a certain way
that would be socially inappropriate or that might be unhealthy for you in the
long run. For example, when sitting in a boring class, you might want to take
out your phone and text your friends, take off your shoes and take a nap, or
perhaps scream because you are so bored. Self-regulation is the process that
you use to avoid such behaviors and instead sit quietly through class. Selfregulation takes a lot of effort, and it is often compared to a muscle that can
1564
be exhausted (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998). For example, a

child might be able to resist eating a pile of delicious cookies if he or she is in
the room with the cookies for only a few minutes, but if that child were forced
to spend hours with the cookies, his or her ability to regulate the desire to eat
the cookies would wear down. Eventually, his or her self-regulatory abilities
would be exhausted, and the child would eat the cookies. A person with strong
self-efficacy beliefs might become less distressed in the face of failure than
might someone with weak self-efficacy. Because self-efficacious people are less
likely to become distressed, they draw less on their self-regulation reserves;
thus, self-efficacious people persist longer in the face of a challenge.
Self-efficacy influences self-regulation in many ways to produce better
performance and greater success (Maddux & Volkmann, 2010). First, people
with stronger self-efficacies have greater motivation to perform in the area for
which they have stronger self-efficacies (Bandura & Locke, 2003). This means
that people are motivated to work harder in those areas where they believe
they can effectively perform. Second, people with stronger self-efficacies are
more likely to persevere through challenges in attaining goals (Vancouver, More,
& Yoder, 2008). For example, people with high academic self-efficacies are better
able to motivate themselves to persevere through such challenges as taking a
difficult class and completing their degrees because they believe that their
efforts will pay off. Third, self-efficacious people believe that they have more
control over a situation. Having more control over a situation means that selfefficacious people might be more likely to engage in the behaviors that will
allow them to achieve their desired goal. Finally, self-efficacious people have
more confidence in their problem-solving abilities and, thus, are able to better
use their cognitive resources and make better decisions, especially in the face
of challenges and setbacks (Cervone, Jiwani, & Wood, 1991).
1565
Collective Efficacy
Collective efficacy is a concept related to self-efficacy. Collective efficacy refers
to the shared beliefs among members of a group about the groups ability to
effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal (Bandura, 1997).
Groups and teams that have higher collective efficacies perform better than
groups and teams with lower collective efficacies (Marks, 1999). Collective
efficacy is especially important during tasks that require a lot of teamwork (KatzNavon & Erez, 2005). For example, when you have to do a group project that
involves each group member contributing a portion of the final project, your
groups performance will be much better if all members share the belief that
your group can perform the necessary tasks together. Collective efficacy plays
a role in romantic relationships. Married couples who strongly believe in their
ability to accomplish shared goals are happier than couples with weaker efficacy
beliefs (Kaplan & Maddux, 2002). Although collective efficacy is an important
part of how well a team or group performs, self-efficacy also plays a role in team
situations. For example, better decision-making self-efficacy predicts better
performance in team sports, such as baseball (Hepler & Feltz, 2012).
Conclusion
Self-efficacy refers to your beliefs about your ability to effectively perform the
tasks needed to attain a valued goal and it affects your daily life in many ways.
Self-efficacious adolescents perform better at school and self-efficacious adults
perform better at work. These individuals have happier romantic relationships
and work better in teams. People with strong self-efficacies have better health
than those with weak self-efficacies; they are more likely to engage in behaviors
that prevent health problems and actually increase their health. They are more
likely to begin and continue exercise, have safer sex, and eat better foods. Higher
self-efficacy is also useful for getting out of bad habits. People with strong selfnobaproject.com - Self-Efficacy
1566
efficacies are able to lose weight, quit smoking, and cut down on alcohol
consumption more successfully than can people with low self-efficacies. As
illustrated by the well-known childrens book The Little Engine That Could (Piper,
1930),telling yourself I think I can can be a powerful motivator and can increase
your chances for success.
Our own final words on self-efficacy also draw from childrens literature.
Many people receive a copy of Oh, The Places Youll Go! when they reach a major
milestone, such as graduating high school to go on to college or graduating
college to enter the workforce. Whether or not you or whoever gave you the
book knew it, Oh, The Places Youll Go! is all about self-efficacy. This book speaks
directly to readers by talking about all of the challenges they might face on their
journeys. Throughout the book, the narrator continues to assure readers that
they will be able to use their abilities to effectively handle these challenges. So,
we leave you with Dr. Seuss wise words: Youre on your own. And you know
what you know. And you are the guy wholl decide where to go. And will you
succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! 98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.
1567
Outside Resources
Video: Association for Psychological Science presents an interview with
Albert Bandura
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_U-pSZwHy8
Video: Self-efficacys role and sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrzzbaomLmc
Web: Professor Frank Pajares self-efficacy site.
http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/self-efficacy.html
1. Can you think of ways your own self-efficacy beliefs play a role in your daily
life? In which areas do you have strong self-efficacy? In which areas would
you like your self-efficacy to be a bit stronger? How could you increase your
self-efficacy in those areas?
2. Can you think of a time when a teacher, coach, or parent did something to
encourage your self-efficacy? What did he or she do and say? How did it
enhance your self-efficacy?
3. What are some ways that you can help strengthen the self-efficacies of the
people in your life?
4. Can you think of a time when collective efficacy played a role in your team
or group activities? What did you notice about being on a team or in a group
that had high collective efficacy? What about a team or group with low
collective efficacy?
Vocabulary
Collective efficacy
The shared beliefs among members of a group about the groups ability to
effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal.
Imaginal performances
When imagining yourself doing well increases self-efficacy.
Performance experiences
When past successes or failures lead to changes in self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy
The belief that you are able to effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a
valued goal.
Self-regulation
The complex process through which people control their thoughts, emotions,
and actions.
Self-report measure
A type of questionnaire in which participants answer questions whose answers
correspond to numerical values that can be added to create an overall index of
some construct.
Task-specific measures of self-efficacy
Measures that ask about self-efficacy beliefs for a particular task (e.g., athletic
self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy).
Verbal persuasion
When trusted people (friends, family, experts) influence your self-efficacy for
better or worse by either encouraging or discouraging you about your ability
to succeed.
Vicarious performances
When seeing other people succeed or fail leads to changes in self-efficacy.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Self-Efficacy by James E Maddux and Evan Kleiman
Intellectual Abilities,
Interests, and Mastery
David Lubinski
Vanderbilt University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Psychologists interested in the study of human individuality have found that
accomplishments in education, the world of work, and creativity are a joint
function of talent, passion, and commitmentor how much effort and time
one is willing to invest in personal development when the opportunity is
provided. This chapter reviews models and measures that psychologists have
designed to assess intellect, interests, and energy for personal development.
The chapter begins with a model for organizing these three psychological
domains, which is useful for understanding talent development. This model is
not only helpful for understanding the many different ways that positive
development may unfold among people, but it is also useful for conceptualizing
personal development and ways of selecting opportunities in learning and work
settings that are more personally meaningful. Data supporting this model are
reviewed.
Learning Objectives
Compare and contrast satisfaction and satisfactoriness.
Discuss why the model of talent development offered in this chapter places
equal emphasis on assessing the person and assessing the environment.
Articulate the relationship between ability and learning and performance.
Understand the issue of an "ability threshold" beyond which more ability

may or may not matter.
List personal attributes other than interests and abilities that are important
to individual accomplishment.
An amalgam of intelligence, interests, and mastery are appropriate topics for

an essay on the cross-cutting themes running through these vast domains of
psychological diversity. For effective performance and valued accomplishments,
these three classes of determinants are needed for comprehensive treatments
of psychological phenomena supporting learning, occupational performance,
and for advancing knowledge through innovative solutions. Historically, these
personal attributes go back to at least Platos triarchic view of the human psyche,
described in Phaedra, wherein he depicts the intellect as a charioteer, and affect
(interests) and will (to master) as horses that draw the chariot. Ever since that
time, cognitive, affective, and conative factors have all been found in
comprehensive models of human development, or The Trilogy of Mind
(Hilgard, 1980). To predict the magnitude, nature, and sophistication of
intellectual development toward learning, working, and creating, all three
classes are indispensable and deficits on any one can markedly hobble the
effectiveness of the others in meeting standards for typical as well as
extraordinary performance. These three aspects of human individuality all
operate in parallel confluences of behaviors, perceptions, and stimuli to
engender stream of consciousness experiences as well as effective functioning.
Hilgard (1980) was indeed justified to criticize formulations in cognitive
psychology, which neglect affection and conation; technically, such truncated
frameworks of human psychological phenomena are known as underdetermined or misspecified causal models (Lubinski, 2000; Lubinski &
Humphreys, 1997).
A Framework for Understanding Talent Development

Figure 1 is an adaptation of the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA; Dawis &
Lofquist, 1984; Lubinski & Benbow, 2000). It provides a useful organizational
scheme for this treatment by outlining critical dimensions of human
individuality for performance in learning and work settings (and in transitioning
nobaproject.com - Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and Mastery
1583
between such settings). Here, the dominant models of intellectual abilities and
educationaloccupational interests are assembled. Because this review will be
restricted to measures of individual differences that harbor real-world
significance, these two models are linked to corresponding features of learning
and work environments, ability requirements and incentive or reward
structures, which set standards for meeting expectations (performance) and
rewarding valued performance (compensation). Correspondence between
abilities and ability requirements constitutes satisfactoriness (competence),
whereas correspondence between an interests and reward structures
constitutes satisfaction (fulfillment). To the extent that satisfactoriness and
satisfaction co-occur, the individual is motivated to maintain contact with the
environment and the environment is motivated to retain the individual; if one
of these dimensions is dis-correspondent, the individual is motivated to leave
the environment or the environment is motivated to dismiss.
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Figure 1. The above is an adaptation of the Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis & Lofquist,
1984), following Lubinski and Benbow (2000) to highlight its general role in talent development
over the life span. The radex scaling of cognitive abilities (upper left) and the RIASEC hexagon
of interests (lower left) outline personal attributes relevant to learning and work. The letters
within the cognitive ability arrangement denote different regions of concentration, whereas
their accompanying numbers increase as a function of complexity. Contained within the
RIASEC is a simplification of this hexagon. Following Prediger (1982), it amounts to a twodimensional structure of independent dimensions: people/things and data/ideas, which
underlie RIASEC. The dotted line running down the individual and environment sectors
underscores the idea that equal emphasis is placed on assessing personal attributes (abilities
and interests) and assessing the environment (abilities requirements and reward structure).
Correspondence between abilities and ability requirements constitutes satisfactoriness
whereas correspondence between interests and reinforce systems constitutes satisfaction.
Jointly, these two dimensions predict tenure or a longstanding relationship between the
individual and the environment.
This model of talent development places equal emphasis on assessing the

individual (abilities and interests) and the environment (response requirements
and reward structures). Comprehensive reviews of outcomes within education
(Lubinski, 1996; Lubinski & Benbow, 2000), counseling (Dawis, 1992;
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Gottfredson, 2003; Rounds & Tracey, 1990), and industrial/organizational

psychology all emphasize this person/environment tandem (Dawis, 1991;
Katzell, 1994; Lubinski & Dawis, 1992; Strong, 1943): aligning competency/
motivational proclivities to performance standards and reward structures for
learning and work (Bouchard, 1997; Scarr, 1996; Scarr & McCartney, 1983). And
indeed, educational, counseling, and industrial psychology can be contiguously
sequenced by this framework. They all share a common feature: the scientific
study of implementing interventions or opportunities, based on individual
differences, for maximizing positive psychological growth across different
stages of life span development (Lubinski, 1996). For making individual
decisions about personal development, or institutional decisions about
organizational development, it is frequently useful to go beyond a minimum
requisite approach of do you like it (satisfaction) and can you do it
(satisfactoriness), and instead consider what individuals like the most and can
do the best (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000, 2001). This framework is useful for
identifying optimal promise for personal as well as organizational
development. For now, however, cognitive abilities and interests will be
reviewed and, ultimately, linked to conative determinants that mobilize, and in
part account for, individual differences in how capabilities and motives are
expressed.
Cognitive Abilities
Over the past several decadesthe past 20 years in particulara remarkable
consensus has emerged that cognitive abilities are organized hierarchically
(Carroll, 1993). A general outline of this hierarchy is represented graphically by
a radex (Guttman, 1954), depicted in the upper left region of Figure 1. This
illustrates the reliable finding that cognitive ability assessments covary as a
function of their content or complexity (Corno, Cronbach et al., 2002; Lubinski
& Dawis, 1992; Snow & Lohman, 1989). Cognitive ability tests can be scaled in
1586
this space based on how highly they covary with one another. The more that
two tests share complexity and content, the more they covary and the closer
they are to one another as points within the radex. Test complexity is scaled
from the center of the radex (g) out, and, along lines emanating from the origin,
complexity decreases but test content remains the same. Test content is scaled
around the circular bands with equal distance from the center of the radex and,
progressing around these bands, the relative density of test content changes
from spatial/mechanical to verbal/linguistic to quantitative/numerical, but test
complexity remains constant. Therefore, test content varies within each band
(but complexity remains constant), whereas test complexity varies between
bands (but on lines from the origin to the periphery, content remains constant).
Because the extent to which tests covary is represented by how close together
they are within this space (Lubinski & Dawis, 1992; Snow & Lohman, 1989; Wai,
Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009), this model is helpful in organizing the many different
kinds of specific ability tests.
As Piaget astutely pointed out, Intelligence is what you use when you dont
know what to do, and this model affords an excellent overview of the content
and sophistication of thought applied to familiar and novel problem-solving
tasks. Mathematical, spatial, and verbal reasoning constitute the chief specific
abilities with implications for different choices and performance after those
choices in learning and work settings (Corno et al., 2002; Dawis, 1992;
Gottfredson, 2003; Lubinski, 2004; Wai et al., 2009). The content of measures
or tests of these specific abilities index individual differences in different
modalities of thought: reasoning with numbers, words, and figures or shapes.
Yet, despite this disparate content and focus, contrasting specific ability tests
are all positively correlated, because they all index an underlying general
property of intellectual thought.
1587
This general (common) dimension, identified over 100 years ago (Spearman,
1904) and corroborated by a massive quantity of subsequent research (Carroll,
1993; Jensen, 1998), is general mental ability, the general factor, or simply g
(Gottfredson, 1997). General mental ability represents the complexity/
sophistication of a persons intellectual repertoire (Jensen, 1998; Lubinski &
Dawis, 1992). The more complex a test is, regardless of its content, the better
a measure of g it is. Further, because g underlies all cognitive reasoning
processes, any test that assesses a specific ability is also, to some extent, a
measure of g (Lubinski, 2004). In school, work, and a variety of everyday life
circumstances, assessments of this general dimension covary more broadly
and deeper than any other measure of human individuality (Hunt, 2011; Jensen,
1998; Lubinski, 2000, 2004).
Measures of g manifest their life importance by going beyond educational
settings (where they covary with educational achievement assessments in the
.70.80 range), by playing a role in shaping phenomena within Freuds two
important life domains, arbeiten and lieben, working and loving (or, resource
acquisition and mating). Measures of g covary .20.60 with work performance
as a function of job complexity, .30.40 with income, and .20 with criminal
behavior, .40 with SES of origin, and .50.70 with achieved SES; assortative
mating correlations on g are around .50 (Jensen, 1998; Lubinski, 2004; Schmidt
& Hunter, 1998). Furthermore, Malcolm Gladwell (2008) notwithstanding, there
does not appear to be an ability threshold; that is, the idea that after a certain
point more ability does not matter. More ability does matter.
Although other determinants are certainly needed (interests, persistence,
opportunity), more ability does make a difference in learning, working, and
creating, even among the top 1% of ability, or IQ equivalents ranging from
approximately 137 to over 200 (see Figure 2). When appropriate assessment
and criterion measures are utilized to capture the breadth of ability and
accomplishment differences among the profoundly talented, individual
differences within the top 1% of ability are shown to matter a great deal. In the
1588
past this has been difficult to demonstrate, because intellectual assessments

and criterion measures lacked sufficient scope in gifted or intellectually talented
populations, which resulted in no variation in assessments among the able and
exceptionally able (ceiling effects). Without variation there cannot be covariation, but modern methods have now corrected for this (Kell, Lubinski, &
Benbow, 2013a; Lubinski, 2009; Park, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007, 2008). Yet, even
when g is measured in its full scope, and validated with large samples and
appropriate low-base-rate-criteria over protracted longitudinal intervals, there
is much more to intellectual functioning than measures of g or general ability.
1589
Figure 2. Frey and Detterman (2004) have shown that the SAT composite is an excellent
measure of general intelligence for high ability samples; here, intellectually precocious youth
were assessed on this composite at age 13 and separated into quartiles (Lubinski, 2009). The
mean age 13 SAT composite scores for each quartile are displayed in parentheses along the
x-axis. Odds ratios comparing the likelihood of each outcome in the top (Q4) and bottom (Q1)
SAT quartiles are displayed at the end of every respective criterion line. An asterisk indicates
that the 95% confidence interval for the odds ratio did not include 1.0, meaning that the
likelihood of the outcome in Q4 was significantly greater than in Q1. These SAT assessments
by age 13 were conducted before the re-centering of the SAT in the mid-1990s (i.e., during the
1970s and early 1980s); at that time, cutting scores for the top 1 in 200 were SAT-M 500, SATV 430; for the top 1 in 10,000, cutting scores were SAT-M 700, SAT-V 630 by age 13.
1590
To reveal how general and specific abilities operate over the course of
development, Figure 3 contains data from over 400,000 high schools students
assessed between grades 9 through 12, and tracked for 11 years. Specifically,
Figure 3 graphs the general and specific ability profiles of students earning
terminal degrees in nine disciplines (Wai et al., 2009). Given that highly
congruent findings were observed for all four cohorts (g rades 9 through 12),
the cohorts were combined. High general intelligence and an intellectual
orientation dominated by high mathematical and spatial abilities, relative to
verbal ability, were salient characteristics of individuals who pursued advanced
education credentials in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM). These participants occupy a region in the intellectual space defined by
the dimensions of ability level and ability pattern different from participants
who earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in other domains.
1591
Figure 3. Average z scores of participants on verbal, spatial, and mathematical ability for
terminal bachelors degrees, terminal masters degrees, and doctoral degrees are plotted by
field. The groups are plotted in rank order of their normative standing on g (verbal [V] + spatial
[S] + mathematical [M]) along the x-axis, and the line with the arrows from each field pointing
to it indicates on the continuous scale where they are in general mental ability in z-score units.
This figure is standardized in relation to all participants with complete ability data at the time
of initial testing. Respective Ns for each group (men + women) were as follows for bachelors,
masters, and doctorates, respectively: engineering (1,143, 339, 71), physical science (633, 182,
202), math/computer science (877, 266, 57), biological science (740, 182, 79), humanities
(3,226, 695, 82), social science (2,609, 484, 158), arts (615, 171 [masters only]), business (2,386,
191 [masters + doctorate]), and education (3,403, 1,505 [masters + doctorate]). For education
and business, masters degrees and doctorates were combined because the doctorate
samples for these groups were too small to obtain stability (N = 30). For the specific N for each
degree by sex that composed the major groupings, see Appendix A in Wai et al. (2009).
1592
Two major differences distinguish the STEM from the non-STEM educational
groups. First, students who ultimately secure educational credentials in STEM
domains are more capable than those earning degrees in other areas, especially
in nonverbal intellectual abilities. Within all educational domains, more
advanced degrees are associated with more general and specific abilities.
Second, for all three STEM educational groupings (and the advanced degrees
within these groupings), spatial ability > verbal abilitywhereas for all others,
ranging from education to biology, spatial ability < verbal ability (with business
being an exception). Young adolescents who subsequently secured advanced
educational credentials in STEM manifested a spatialverbal ability pattern
opposite that of those who ultimately earned educational credentials in other
areas. These same patterns play out in occupational arenas in predictable ways
(Kell, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2013b). In the past decade, individual
differences within the top 1% of ability have revealed that these patterns
portend important outcomes for technical innovation and creativity, with
respect to both ability level (Lubinski, 2009; Park et al., 2008) and pattern (Kell
et al. 2013a, Kell et al., 2013b; Park et al., 2007). Level of general ability has
predictive validity for the magnitude of accomplishment (how extraordinary
they are), whereas ability pattern has predictive validity for the nature of
accomplishments (the domains they occur in).
Interests
Just because people can do something well doesnt mean they like doing it.
Psychological information on motivational differences (personal passions) is
needed to understand attractions and aversions, different ways to create a
meaningful life, and how differential development unfolds. Even people with
the same intellectual equipment vary widely in their motivational proclivities.
Paraphrasing Plato, different horses drive intellectual development down
different life paths. The lower left region of Figure 1 provides the dominant
1593
model of vocational interests, one developed from decades of large-scale

longitudinal and cross-cultural research. It shows a hexagonal structure
consisting of six general themes: Realistic (R) = working with gadgets and things,
the outdoors, need for structure; Investigative (I) = scientific pursuits, especially
mathematics and the physical science, an interest in theory; Artistic (A) = creative
expression in art and writing, little need for structure; Social (S) = people
interests, the helping professions, teaching, nursing, counseling; Enterprising
(E) = likes leadership roles directed toward economic objectives; and
Conventional (C) = liking of well-structured environments and clear chains of
command, such as office practices.
These six themes covary inversely with the distance between them, hence,
the hexagonal structure circling around R-I-A-S-E-C. John Holland (1959, 1996)
justifiably receives most of the credit for this model (Day & Rounds, 1998),
although Guilford et al. (1954) uncovered a similar framework based on military
data and labeled them Mechanical, Scientific, Aesthetic Expression, Social
Welfare, Business, and Clerical. Although each theme contains multiple
subcomponents, Hollands hexagon, like the radex of cognitive abilities,
captures the general outlines of the educational/occupational interest domain,
but there are molecular strands of intellective and interest dimensions that add
nuance to these general outlines (for abilities, see Carroll, 1993; for interests,
see Dawis, 1991; Savickas & Spokane, 1999). There are also super-ordinal
themes such as people versus things (Su, Rounds, & Armstrong, 2009), which
manifest arguably the largest sex-difference on a psychological dimension of
human individuality.
At superordinate levels of people versus things or data versus ideas
(Prediger, 1982), or at the RIASEC level of analysis, interest dimensions covary
in different ways with mathematical, spatial, and verbal abilities (Ackerman,
1996; Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997; Schmidt, Lubinski, & Benbow, 1998); and
intense selection, when exclusively restricted to a specific ability, will eventuate
in distinctive interest profiles across the three abilities with implications for
1594
differential development (Humphreys, Lubinski, & Yao, 1993; Webb, Lubinski,

& Benbow, 2007). Although correlations between abilities and interests are
only in the .20.30 range, when selection is extreme, distinct profiles emerge
and reflect different types (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000, 2006). For basic science,
this shows how ostensibly different kinds of intelligence at the extreme do not
stem from different qualities, but rather from endpoint extremes within a
multivariate space of systematic sources of individual differences, which pull
with them constellations of nonintellectual personal attributes. For applied
practice,
skilled
educationalvocational
counselors
routinely
combine
information on abilities and interests to distill learning and work environments

that individuals are likely to thrive in competence and experience fulfillment
(Dawis, 1992; Rounds & Tracy, 1990). For further insights, a final class of
important psychological determinants is needed, however.
Mastery
As all parents of more than one child know, there are huge individual differences
in the extent to which individuals embrace opportunities for positive
development. Seasoned faculty at top institutions for graduate training have
observed the same phenonemonamong highly select graduate students, task
commitment varies tremendously. Even among the intellectual elite, individual
differences in accomplishments stem from more than abilities, interests, and
opportunity; conative determinants are critical catalysts. Galton (1869) called
it zeal, Hull (1928) called it industriousness, and Webb (1915) called it will.
Such labels as grit or strivers are sometimes used to define resources that
people call upon to mobilize their abilities and interests over protracted
intervals. Conative factors are distinct from abilities and preferences, having
more to do with individual differences in energy or psychological tempo rather
than the content of what people can do or how rapidly they learn. Indeed,
characteristic
across
scientific
studies
of
expertise
and
world-class
1595
accomplishment are attributes specifically indicative of indefatigable capacities

for study and work. This is an underappreciated class of individual differences,
although Ackerman (1996) has discussed typical intellectual engagement (TIE)
and Dawis and Lofquist (1984) have discussed pace and endurance. This class
of attributes simply has not received the attention it deserves.
Nevertheless, in the field of talent development and identification, the
greatest consensus appears to be found on the topic of conation, rather than
cognition or affect. Exceptional performers are deeply committed to what they
do, and they devote a great deal of time to doing it. Regardless of the theorist,
Howard Gardner, Dean Simonton, Arthur Jensen, Anders Erikson, and Harriet
Zuckerman all agree that this is a uniform characteristic of world class
performers at the top of their game. In the words of Dean Simonton and E. O.
Wilson, respectively:
Figure 4 contains data from two extraordinary populations of individuals
(Lubinski, Benbow, Webb, Bleske-Rechek, 2006). One group consists of a sample
of profoundly gifted adolescents identified at age 12 as in the top 1 in 10,000
in mathematical or verbal reasoning ability; they were subsequently tracked for
20 years. Members of the second group were identified in their early twenties,
as first- or second-year STEM graduate students enrolled in a top-15 U.S.
university; they were subsequently tracked for 10 years. Now in their midthirties, subjects were asked how much they would be willing to work in their
ideal job and, second, how much they actually do work. The data are clear.
There are huge individual differences associated with how much time people
are willing to invest in their career development and work. The STEM graduate
students are particularly interesting inasmuch as in their mid-twenties they
were assessed on abilities, interests, and personality, and both sexes were
found to be highly similar on these psychological dimensions (Lubinski, Benbow,
Shea, Eftekhari-Sanjani, & Halvorson, 2001). But subsequently, over the life
span, they markedly diverged in time allocation and life priorities (Ceci &
Williams, 2011; Ferriman, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009).
1596
1597
Figure 4: Hours worked per week (top) and hours willing to work per week in ideal job
(bottom) for top STEM Graduate Students (GS) and Profoundly Gifted Talent Search (TS)
participants now in their mid-thirties (from Lubinski et al., 2006).
These figures reveal huge noncognitive individual differences among

individuals with exceptional intellectual talent. One only needs to imagine the
ticking of a tenure clock and the differences likely to accrue over a 5-year interval
between two faculty working 45- versus 65-hour weeks (other things being
equal). Making partner in a prestigious law firm is no different, nor is achieving
genuine excellence in most intellectually demanding areas.
Conclusion
Since Spearman (1904) advanced the idea of general intelligence, a steady
stream of systematic scientific knowledge has accrued in the psychological
study of human individuality. We have learned that the intellect is organized
hierarchically, that interests are multidimensional and only covary slightly with
abilities, and that individual differences are huge in terms of investing in
personal development. When these aspects of human psychological diversity
are combined with commensurate attention devoted to opportunities for
learning, work, and personal growth, a framework for understanding human
development begins to take shape. Because frameworks may be found that
emphasize only one set of these determinants, this essay closes with the
recommendationbased on the empirical evidenceto stress all three.
1598
Outside Resources
Book: Human Cognitive Abilities, by John Carroll constitutes a definitive
treatment of the nature and hierarchical organization of cognitive abilities,
based on a conceptual and empirical analysis of the past centurys factor
analytic research.
http://www.amazon.com/Human-Cognitive-Abilities-Factor-Analytic-Studies/
dp/0521382750/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390944516&sr=1-1&keywords=
human+cognitive+abilities
Book: Human Intelligence, by Earl Hunt, provides a superb overview of

empirical research on cognitive abilities. Collectively, these three sources
capture the psychological significance of what this important domain of
human psychological diversity affords.
http://www.amazon.com/Human-Intelligence-Earl-Hunt/dp/0521707811
Book: The g Factor, by Arthur Jensen, explicates the depth and breadth of
the central dimension running through all cognitive abilities, the summit of
Carrolls (1993) hierarchical organization: general intelligence (or g).
Revealed here is the practical and scientific significance for coming to terms
with a rich array of critical human outcomes found in schools, work, and
everyday life.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Factor-Evolution-Behavior-Intelligence/dp/0275961036
Book: For additional reading on the history of intellectual assessment, read

Century of Ability Testing, by Robert Thorndike and David F. Lohman
http://www.amazon.com/Century-Ability-Testing-Robert-Thorndike/dp/0829251561
1. Why are abilities and interests insufficient for conceptualizing educational
and occupational development?
2. Why does the model of talent development discussed in this chapter place
equal emphasis on assessing the individual and assessing the environment.
3. What is the most widely agreed on empirical finding, among investigators
who study the development of truly outstanding careers?
4. Besides what you can do and what you like, what other factors are important
to consider when making choices about your personal development in
learning and work settings?
Vocabulary
g or general mental ability
The general factor common to all cognitive ability measures, a very general
mental capacity that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan,
solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and
learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill,
or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for
comprehending our surroundingscatching on, making sense of things, or
figuring out what to do (Gottfredson, 1997, p. 13).
Satisfaction
Correspondence between an individuals needs or preferences and the rewards
offered by the environment.
Satisfactoriness
Correspondence between an individuals abilities and the ability requirements
of the environment.
Specific abilities
Cognitive abilities that contain an appreciable component of g or general ability,
but also contain a large component of a more content-focused talent such as
mathematical, spatial, or verbal ability; patterns of specific abilities channel
development down different paths as a function of an individuals relative
strengths and weaknesses.
Under-determined or misspecified causal models
Psychological frameworks that miss or neglect to include one or more of the
critical determinants of the phenomenon under analysis.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and Mastery by
David Lubinski is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Topic 9
Emotions and Motivation
Affective Neuroscience
Eddie Harmon-Jones & Cindy Harmon-Jones
University of New South Wales
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter provides a brief overview of the neuroscience of emotion. It
integrates findings from human and animal research to describe the brain
networks and associated neurotransmitters involved in basic affective systems.
Learning Objectives
Define affective neuroscience.
Describe neuroscience techniques used to study emotions in humans and

animals.
Name five emotional systems and their associated neural structures and
neurotransmitters.
Give examples of exogenous chemicals (e.g., drugs) that influence affective

systems, and discuss their effects.
Discuss multiple affective functions of the amygdala and the nucleus

accumbens.
Name several specific human emotions, and discuss their relationship to

the affective systems of nonhuman animals.
Affective Neuroscience: What is it?

Affective neuroscience examines how the brain creates emotional responses.
Emotions are psychological phenomena that involve changes to the body (e.g.,
facial expression), changes in autonomic nervous system activity, feeling states
(subjective responses), and urges to act in specific ways (motivations; Izard,
2010). Affective neuroscience aims to understand how matter (brain structures
and chemicals) creates one of the most fascinating aspects of mind, the
emotions. Affective neuroscience uses unbiased, observable measures that
provide credible evidence to other sciences and laypersons on the importance
of emotions. It also leads to biologically based treatments for affective disorders
(e.g., depression).
The human brain and its responses, including emotions, are complex and
flexible. In comparison, nonhuman animals possess simpler nervous systems
and more basic emotional responses. Invasive neuroscience techniques, such
as electrode implantation, lesioning, and hormone administration, can be more
easily used in animals than in humans. Human neuroscience must rely primarily
on noninvasive techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) and
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and on studies of individuals
with brain lesions caused by accident or disease. Thus, animal research provides
useful models for understanding affective processes in humans. Affective
circuits found in other species, particularly social mammals such as rats, dogs,
and monkeys, function similarly to human affective networks, although
nonhuman animals brains are more basic.
In humans, emotions and their associated neural systems have additional
layers of complexity and flexibility. Compared to animals, humans experience
a vast variety of nuanced and sometimes conflicting emotions. Humans also
respond to these emotions in complex ways, such that conscious goals, values,
and other cognitions influence behavior in addition to emotional responses.
However, in this chapter we focus on the similarities between organisms, rather
nobaproject.com - Affective Neuroscience
1614
than the differences. We often use the term organism to refer to the individual
who is experiencing an emotion or showing evidence of particular neural
activations. An organism could be a rat, a monkey, or a human.
Across species, emotional responses are organized around the organisms
survival and reproductive needs. Emotions influence perception, cognition, and
behavior to help organisms survive and thrive (Farb, Chapman, & Anderson,
2013). Networks of structures in the brain respond to different needs, with some
overlap between different emotions. Specific emotions are not located in a
single structure of the brain. Instead, emotional responses involve networks of
activation, with many parts of the brain activated during any emotional process.
In fact, the brain circuits involved in emotional reactions include nearly the
entire brain (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2013). Brain circuits located deep within
the brain below the cerebral cortex are primarily responsible for generating
basic emotions (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2013; Panksepp & Biven, 2012). In the
past, research attention was focused on specific brain structures that will be
reviewed here, but future research may find that additional areas of the brain
are also important in these processes.
1615
Figure 1: Structures in the brain
Basic Emotions
Desire: The neural systems of reward seeking
One of the most important affective neuronal systems relates to feelings of
desire, or the appetite for rewards. Researchers refer to these appetitive
processes using terms such as wanting (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2008),
seeking (Panksepp & Biven, 2012), or behavioural activation sensitivity (Gray,
1987). When the appetitive system is aroused, the organism shows enthusiasm,
1616
interest, and curiosity. These neural circuits motivate the animal to move
through its environment in search of rewards such as appetizing foods,
attractive sex partners, and other pleasurable stimuli. When the appetitive
system is underaroused, the organism appears depressed and helpless.
Much evidence for the structures involved in this system comes from animal
research using direct brain stimulation. When an electrode is implanted in the
lateral hypothalamus or in cortical or mesencephalic regions to which the
hypothalamus is connected, animals will press a lever to deliver electrical
stimulation, suggesting that they find the stimulation pleasurable. The regions
in the desire system also include the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and frontal
cortex (Panksepp & Biven, 2012). The neurotransmitter dopamine, produced
in the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine circuits, activates these regions.
It creates a sense of excitement, meaningfulness, and anticipation. These
structures are also sensitive to drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines,
chemicals that have similar effects to dopamine (Panksepp & Biven, 2012).
Research in both humans and nonhuman animals shows that the left frontal
cortex (compared to the right frontal cortex) is more active during appetitive
emotions such as desire and interest. Researchers first noted that persons who
had suffered damage to the left frontal cortex developed depression, whereas
those with damage to the right frontal cortex developed mania (Goldstein,
1939). The relationship between left frontal activation and approach-related
emotions has been confirmed in healthy individuals using EEG and fMRI
(Berkman & Lieberman, 2010). For example, increased left frontal activation
occurs in 2- to 3-day-old infants when sucrose is placed on their tongues (Fox
& Davidson, 1986), and in hungry adults as they view pictures of desirable
desserts (Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2008). In addition, greater left frontal activity
in appetitive situations has been found to relate to dopamine (Wacker, Mueller,
Pizzagalli, Hennig, & Stemmler, 2013).
1617
Liking: The neural circuits of pleasure and enjoyment

Surprisingly, the amount of desire an individual feels toward a reward need not
correspond to how much he or she likes that reward. This is because the neural
structures involved in the enjoyment of rewards are different from the
structures involved in the desire for the rewards. Liking (e.g., enjoyment of a
sweet liquid) can be measured in babies and nonhuman animals by measuring
licking speed, tongue protrusions, and happy facial expressions, whereas
wanting (desire) is shown by the willingness to work hard to obtain a reward
(Berridge & Kringelbach, 2008). Liking has been distinguished from wanting in
research on topics such as drug abuse. For example, drug addicts often desire
drugs even when they know that the ones available will not provide pleasure
(Stewart, de Wit, & Eikelboom, 1984).
Research on liking has focused on a small area within the nucleus
accumbens and on the posterior half of the ventral pallidum. These brain
regions are sensitive to opioids and endocannabinoids. Stimulation of other
regions of the reward system increases wanting, but does not increase liking,
and in some cases even decreases liking. The research on the distinction
between desire and enjoyment contributes to the understanding of human
addiction, particularly why individuals often continue to frantically pursue
rewards such as cocaine, opiates, gambling, or sex, even when they no longer
experience pleasure from obtaining these rewards due to habituation.
The experience of pleasure also involves the orbitofrontal cortex. Neurons
in this region fire when monkeys taste, or merely see pictures of, desirable
foods. In humans, this region is activated by pleasant stimuli including money,
pleasant smells, and attractive faces (Gottfried, ODoherty & Dolan, 2002;
ODoherty, Deichmann, Critchley, & Dolan, 2002; ODoherty, Kringelbach, Rolls,
Hornak, & Andrews, 2001; ODoherty, Winston, Critchley, Perrett, Burt, & Dolan,
2003).
1618
Fear: The neural system of freezing and fleeing

Fear is an unpleasant emotion that motivates avoidance of potentially harmful
situations. Slight stimulation of the fear-related areas in the brain causes
animals to freeze, whereas intense stimulation causes them to flee. The fear
circuit extends from the central amygdala to the periaqueductal gray in the
midbrain. These structures are sensitive to glutamate, corticotrophin releasing
factor, adreno-cortico-trophic hormone, cholecystokinin, and several different
neuropeptides. Benzodiazepines and other tranquilizers inhibit activation in
these areas (Panksepp & Biven, 2012).
The role of the amygdala in fear responses has been extensively studied.
Perhaps because fear is so important to survival, two pathways send signals to
the amygdala from the sensory organs. When an individual sees a snake, for
example, the sensory information travels from the eye to the thalamus and
then to the visual cortex. The visual cortex sends the information on to the
amygdala, provoking a fear response. However, the thalamus also quickly sends
the information straight to the amygdala, so that the organism can react before
consciously perceiving the snake (LeDoux, Farb, & Ruggiero, 1990). The pathway
from the thalamus to the amygdala is fast but less accurate than the slower
pathway from the visual cortex. Damage to the amygdala or areas of the ventral
hypocampus interferes with fear conditioning in both humans and nonhuman
animals (LeDoux, 1996).
Rage: The circuits of anger and attack

Anger or rage is an arousing, unpleasant emotion that motivates organisms to
approach and attack (Harmon-Jones, Harmon-Jones, & Price, 2013). Anger can
be evoked through goal frustration, physical pain, or physical restraint. In
territorial animals, anger is provoked by a stranger entering the organisms
home territory (Blanchard & Blanchard, 2003). The neural networks for anger
1619
and fear are near one another, but separate (Panksepp & Biven, 2012). They
extend from the medial amygdala, through specific parts of the hypothalamus,
and into the periaqueductal gray of the midbrain. The anger circuits are linked
to the appetitive circuits, such that lack of an anticipated reward can provoke
rage. In addition, when humans are angered, they show increased left frontal
cortical activation, supporting the idea that anger is an approach-related
emotion (Harmon-Jones et al., 2013). The neurotransmitters involved in rage
are not yet well understood, but Substance P may play an important role
(Panksepp & Biven, 2012). Other neurochemicals that may be involved in anger
include testosterone (Peterson & Harmon-Jones, 2012) and argininevasopressin (Heinrichs, von Dawans, & Domes, 2009). Several chemicals inhibit
the rage system, including opioids and high doses of antipsychotics, such as
chlorpromazine (Panksepp & Biven, 2012).
Love: The neural systems of care and attachment

For social animals such as humans, attachment to other members of the same
species produces the positive emotions of attachment: love, warm feelings, and
affection. The emotions that motivate nurturing behavior (e.g., maternal care)
are distinguishable from those that motivate staying close to an attachment
figure in order to receive care and protection (e.g., infant attachment). Important
regions for maternal nurturing include the dorsal preoptic area (Numan & Insel,
2003) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (Panksepp, 1998). These
regions overlap with the areas involved in sexual desire, and are sensitive to
some of the same neurotransmitters, including oxytocin, arginine-vasopressin,
and endogenous opioids (endorphins and enkephalins).
1620
Grief: The neural networks of loneliness and panic

The neural networks involved in infant attachment are also sensitive to
separation. These regions produce the painful emotions of grief, panic, and
loneliness. When infant humans or other infant mammals are separated from
their mothers, they produce distress vocalizations, or crying. The attachment
circuits are those that cause organisms to produce distress vocalizations when
electrically stimulated.
The attachment system begins in the midbrain periaqueductal gray, very
close to the area that produces physical pain responses, suggesting that it may
have originated from the pain circuits (Panksepp, 1998). Separation distress
can also be evoked by stimulating the dorsomedial thalamus, ventral septum,
dorsal preoptic region, and areas in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (near
sexual and maternal circuits; Panksepp, Normansell, Herman, Bishop, &
Crepeau, 1988).
These regions are sensitive to endogenous opiates, oxytocin, and prolactin.
All of these neurotransmitters prevent separation distress. Opiate drugs such
as morphine and heroin, as well as nicotine, artificially produce feelings of
pleasure and gratification, similar to those normally produced during positive
social interactions. This may explain why these drugs are addictive. Panic attacks
appear to be an intense form of separation distress triggered by the attachment
system, and panic can be effectively relieved by opiates. Testosterone also
reduces separation distress, perhaps by reducing attachment needs. Consistent
with this, panic attacks are more common in women than in men.
1621
Plasticity: Experiences can alter the brain

The responses of specific neural regions may be modified by experience. For
example, the front shell of the nucleus accumbens is generally involved in
appetitive behaviors, such as eating, and the back shell is generally involved in
fearful defensive behaviors (Reynolds & Berridge, 2001, 2002). Research using
human neuroimaging has also revealed this frontback distinction in the
functions of the nucleus accumbens (Seymour, Daw, Dayan, Singer, & Dolan,
2007). However, when rats are exposed to stressful environments, their feargenerating regions expand toward the front, filling almost 90% of the nucleus
accumbens shell. On the other hand, when rats are exposed to preferred home
environments, their fear-generating regions shrink and the appetitive regions
expand toward the back, filling approximately 90% of the shell (Reynolds &
Berridge, 2008).
Brain structures have multiple functions

Although much affective neuroscience research has emphasized whole
structures, such as the amygdala and nucleus accumbens, it is important to
note that many of these structures are more accurately referred to as
complexes. They include distinct groups of nuclei that perform different tasks.
At present, human neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI are unable to
examine the activity of individual nuclei in the way that invasive animal
neuroscience can. For instance, the amygdala of the nonhuman primate can
be divided into 13 nuclei and cortical areas (Freese & Amaral, 2009). These
regions of the amygdala perform different functions. The central nucleus sends
outputs involving brainstem areas that result in innate emotional expressions
and associated physiological responses. The basal nucleus is connected with
striatal areas that are involved with actions such as running toward safety.
Furthermore, it is not possible to make one-to-one maps of emotions onto brain
1622
regions. For example, extensive research has examined the involvement of the
amygdala in fear, but research has also shown that the amygdala is active during
uncertainty (Whalen, 1998) as well as positive emotions (Anderson et al., 2003;
Schulkin, 1990).
Conclusion
Research in affective neuroscience has contributed to knowledge regarding
emotional, motivational, and behavioral processes. The study of the basic
emotional systems of nonhuman animals provides information about the
organization and development of more complex human emotions. Although
much still remains to be discovered, current findings in affective neuroscience
have already influenced our understanding of drug use and abuse,
psychological disorders such as panic disorder, and complex human emotions
such as desire and enjoyment, grief and love.
1623
Outside Resources
Video: A 1-hour interview with Jaak Panksepp, the father of affective
neuroscience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ICY6-7hJo
Video: A 15-minute interview with Kent Berridge on pleasure in the brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51rGE1DgIo0
Video: A 5-minute interview with Joseph LeDoux on the amygdala and fear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDD5wvFMH6U
Web: Brain anatomy interactive 3D model
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/3d/index.html
1. The neural circuits of liking are different from the circuits of wanting.
How might this relate to the problems people encounter when they diet,
fight addictions, or try to change other habits?
2. The structures and neurotransmitters that produce pleasure during social
contact also produce panic and grief when organisms are deprived of social
contact. How does this contribute to an understanding of love?
3. Research shows that stressful environments increase the area of the
nucleus accumbens that is sensitive to fear, whereas preferred
environments increase the area that is sensitive to rewards. How might
these changes be adaptive?
Vocabulary
Affect
An emotional process; includes moods, subjective feelings, and discrete
emotions.
Amygdala
Two almond-shaped structures located in the medial temporal lobes of the
brain.
Hypothalamus
A brain structure located below the thalamus and above the brain stem.
Neuroscience
The study of the nervous system.
Nucleus accumbens
A region of the basal forebrain located in front of the preoptic region.
Orbital frontal cortex

A region of the frontal lobes of the brain above the eye sockets.
Periaqueductal gray
The gray matter in the midbrain near the cerebral aqueduct.
Preoptic region
A part of the anterior hypothalamus.
Stria terminalis
A band of fibers that runs along the top surface of the thalamus.
Thalamus
A structure in the midline of the brain located between the midbrain and the
cerebral cortex.
Visual cortex
The part of the brain that processes visual information, located in the back of
the brain.
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and Cindy Harmon-Jones is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Functions of Emotions
Hyisung Hwang & David Matsumoto
San Francisco State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Emotions play a crucial role in our lives because they have important functions.
This chapter describes those functions, dividing the discussion into three areas:
the intrapersonal, the interpersonal, and the social and cultural functions of
emotions. The section on the intrapersonal functions of emotion describes the
roles that emotions play within each of us individually; the section on the
interpersonal functions of emotion describes the meanings of emotions to our
relationships with others; and the section on the social and cultural functions
of emotion describes the roles and meanings that emotions have to the
maintenance and effective functioning of our societies and cultures at large. All
in all we will see that emotions are a crucially important aspect of our
psychological composition, having meaning and function to each of us
individually, to our relationships with others in groups, and to our societies as
a whole.
Learning Objectives
Gain an appreciation of the importance of emotion in human life.
Understand the functions and meanings of emotion in three areas of life:

the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and socialcultural.
Give examples of the role and function of emotion in each of the three areas
described.
Introduction
It is impossible to imagine life without emotion. We treasure our feelingsthe
joy at a ball game, the pleasure of the touch of a loved one, or the fun with
friends on a night out. Even negative emotions are important, such as the
sadness when a loved one dies, the anger when violated, the fear that
overcomes us in a scary or unknown situation, or the guilt or shame toward
others when our sins are made public. Emotions color life experiences and give
those experiences meaning and flavor.
In fact, emotions play many important roles in peoples lives and have been
the topic of scientific inquiry in psychology for well over a century (Cannon,
1927; Darwin, 1872; James, 1890). This chapter explores why we have emotions
and why they are important. Doing so requires us to understand the function
of emotions, and this chapter does so below by dividing the discussion into
three sections. The first concerns the intrapersonal functions of emotion, which
refer to the role that emotions play within each of us individually. The second
concerns the interpersonal functions of emotion, which refer to the role
emotions play between individuals within a group. The third concerns the social
and cultural functions of emotion, which refer to the role that emotions play
in the maintenance of social order within a society. All in all, we will see that
emotions inform us of who we are, what our relationships with others are like,
and how to behave in social interactions. Emotions give meaning to events;
without emotions, those events would be mere facts. Emotions help coordinate
interpersonal relationships. And emotions play an important role in the cultural
functioning of keeping human societies together.
nobaproject.com - Functions of Emotions
1637
Intrapersonal Functions of Emotion

Emotions Help us Act Quickly with Minimal Conscious
Awareness
Emotions are rapid information-processing systems that help us act with
minimal thinking (Tooby & Cosmides, 2008). Problems associated with birth,
battle, death, and seduction have occurred throughout evolutionary history
and emotions evolved to aid humans in adapting to those problems rapidly and
with minimal conscious cognitive intervention. If we did not have emotions, we
could not make rapid decisions concerning whether to attack, defend, flee, care
for others, reject food, or approach something useful, all of which were
functionally adaptive in our evolutionary history and helped us to survive. For
instance, drinking spoiled milk or eating rotten eggs has negative consequences
for our welfare. The emotion of disgust, however, helps us immediately take
action by not ingesting them in the first place or by vomiting them out. This
response is adaptive because it aids, ultimately, in our survival and allows us
to act immediately without much thinking. In some instances, taking the time
to sit and rationally think about what to do, calculating costbenefit ratios in
ones mind, is a luxury that might cost one ones life. Emotions evolved so that
we can act without that depth of thinking.
Emotions Prepare the Body for Immediate Action

Emotions prepare us for behavior. When triggered, emotions orchestrate
systems such as perception, attention, inference, learning, memory, goal choice,
motivational priorities, physiological reactions, motor behaviors, and
behavioral decision making (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000; Tooby & Cosmides, 2008).
Emotions simultaneously activate certain systems and deactivate others in
1638
order to prevent the chaos of competing systems operating at the same time,
allowing for coordinated responses to environmental stimuli (Levenson, 1999).
For instance, when we are afraid, our bodies shut down temporarily unneeded
digestive processes, resulting in saliva reduction (a dry mouth); blood flows
disproportionately to the lower half of the body; the visual field expands; and
air is breathed in, all preparing the body to flee. Emotions initiate a system of
components that includes subjective experience, expressive behaviors,
physiological reactions, action tendencies, and cognition, all for the purposes
of specific actions; the term emotion is, in reality, a metaphor for these
reactions.
One common misunderstanding many people have when thinking about
emotions, however, is the belief that emotions must always directly produce
action. This is not true. Emotion certainly prepares the body for action; but
whether people actually engage in action is dependent on many factors, such
as the context within which the emotion has occurred, the target of the emotion,
the perceived consequences of ones actions, previous experiences, and so forth
(Baumeister, Vohs, DeWall, & Zhang, 2007; Matsumoto & Wilson, 2008). Thus,
emotions are just one of many determinants of behavior, albeit an important
one.
Emotions Influence Thoughts

Emotions are also connected to thoughts and memories. Memories are not just
facts that are encoded in our brains; they are colored with the emotions felt at
those times the facts occurred (Wang & Ross, 2007). Thus, emotions serve as
the neural glue that connects those disparate facts in our minds. That is why it
is easier to remember happy thoughts when happy, and angry times when
angry. Emotions serve as the affective basis of many attitudes, values, and
beliefs that we have about the world and the people around us; without
emotions those attitudes, values, and beliefs would be just statements without
1639
meaning, and emotions give those statements meaning. Emotions influence

our thinking processes, sometimes in constructive ways, sometimes not. It is
difficult to think critically and clearly when we feel intense emotions, but easier
when we are not overwhelmed with emotions (Matsumoto, Hirayama, &
LeRoux, 2006).
Emotions Motivate Future Behaviors

Because emotions prepare our bodies for immediate action, influence
thoughts, and can be felt, they are important motivators of future behavior.
Many of us strive to experience the feelings of satisfaction, joy, pride, or triumph
in our accomplishments and achievements. At the same time, we also work
very hard to avoid strong negative feelings; for example, once we have felt the
emotion of disgust when drinking the spoiled milk, we generally work very hard
to avoid having those feelings again (e.g., checking the expiration date on the
label before buying the milk, smelling the milk before drinking it, watching if
the milk curdles in ones coffee before drinking it). Emotions, therefore, not only
influence immediate actions but also serve as an important motivational basis
for future behaviors.
Interpersonal Functions of Emotion

Emotions are expressed both verbally through words and nonverbally through
facial expressions, voices, gestures, body postures, and movements. We are
constantly expressing emotions when interacting with others, and others can
reliably judge those emotional expressions (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002;
Matsumoto, 2001); thus, emotions have signal value to others and influence
others and our social interactions. Emotions and their expressions
communicate information to others about our feelings, intentions, relationship
with the target of the emotions, and the environment. Because emotions have
1640
this communicative signal value, they help solve social problems by evoking
responses from others, by signaling the nature of interpersonal relationships,
and by providing incentives for desired social behavior (Keltner, 2003).
Emotional Expressions Facilitate Specific Behaviors in

Perceivers
Because facial expressions of emotion are universal social signals, they contain
meaning not only about the expressors psychological state but also about that
persons intent and subsequent behavior. This information affects what the
perceiver is likely to do. People observing fearful faces, for instance, are more
likely to produce approach-related behaviors, whereas people who observe
angry faces are more likely to produce avoidance-related behaviors (Marsh,
Ambady, & Kleck, 2005). Even subliminal presentation of smiles produces
increases in how much beverage people pour and consume and how much
they are willing to pay for it; presentation of angry faces decreases these
behaviors (Winkielman, Berridge, & Wilbarger, 2005). Also, emotional displays
evoke specific, complementary emotional responses from observers; for
example, anger evokes fear in others (Dimberg & Ohman, 1996; Esteves,
Dimberg, & Ohman, 1994), whereas distress evokes sympathy and aid
(Eisenberg et al., 1989).
Emotional Expressions Signal the Nature of Interpersonal

Relationships
Emotional expressions provide information about the nature of the
relationships among interactants. Some of the most important and provocative
set of findings in this area come from studies involving married couples
(Gottman & Levenson, 1992; Gottman, Levenson, & Woodin, 2001). In this
1641
research, married couples visited a laboratory after having not seen each other
for 24 hours, and then engaged in intimate conversations about daily events
or issues of conflict. Discrete expressions of contempt, especially by the men,
and disgust, especially by the women, predicted later marital dissatisfaction
and even divorce.
Emotional Expressions Provide Incentives for Desired

Social Behavior
Facial expressions of emotion are important regulators of social interaction. In
the developmental literature, this concept has been investigated under the
concept of social referencing (Klinnert, Campos, & Sorce, 1983); that is, the
process whereby infants seek out information from others to clarify a situation
and then use that information to act. To date, the strongest demonstration of
social referencing comes from work on the visual cliff. In the first study to
investigate this concept, Campos and colleagues (Sorce, Emde, Campos, &
Klinnert, 1985) placed mothers on the far end of the cliff from the infant.
Mothers first smiled to the infants and placed a toy on top the safety glass to
attract them; infants invariably began crawling to their mothers. When the
infants were in the center of the table, however, the mother then posed an
expression of fear, sadness, anger, interest, or joy. The results were clearly
different for the different faces; no infant crossed the table when the mother
showed fear; only 6% did when the mother posed anger, 33% crossed when
the mother posed sadness, and approximately 75% of the infants crossed when
the mother posed joy or interest.
Other studies provide similar support for facial expressions as regulators of
social interaction. In one study (Bradshaw, 1986), experimenters posed facial
expressions of neutral, anger, or fear toward babies as they moved toward an
object and measured the amount of inhibition the babies showed in touching
the object. The results for 10- and 15-month olds were the same: anger
1642
produced the greatest inhibition, followed by disgust, with neutral the least.
This study was later replicated (Hertenstein & Campos, 2004) using joy and
disgust expressions, altering the method so that the infants were not allowed
to touch the toy (compared with a distractor object) until one hour after
exposure to the expression. At 14 months of age, significantly more infants
touched the toy when they saw joyful expressions, but fewer touched the toy
when the infants saw disgust.
Social and Cultural Functions of Emotion

If you stop to think about many things we take for granted in our daily lives, we
cannot help but come to the conclusion that modern human life is a colorful
tapestry of many groups and individual lives woven together in a complex yet
functional way. For example, when youre hungry, you might go to the local
grocery store and buy some food. Ever stop to think about how youre able to
do that? You might buy a banana that was grown in a field in southeast Asia
being raised by farmers there, where they planted the tree, cared for it, and
picked the fruit. They probably handed that fruit off to a distribution chain that
allowed multiple people somewhere to use tools such as cranes, trucks, cargo
bins, ships or airplanes (that were also created by multiple people somewhere)
to bring that banana to your store. The store had people to care for that banana
until you came and got it and to barter with you for it (with your money). You
may have gotten to the store riding a vehicle that was produced somewhere
else in the world by others, and you were probably wearing clothes produced
by some other people somewhere else.
Thus, human social life is complex. Individuals are members of multiple
groups, with multiple social roles, norms, and expectations, and people move
rapidly in and out of the multiple groups of which they are members. Moreover,
much of human social life is unique because it revolves around cities, where
many people of disparate backgrounds come together. This creates the
1643
enormous potential for social chaos, which can easily occur if individuals are
not coordinated well and relationships not organized systematically.
One of the important functions of culture is to provide this necessary
coordination and organization. Doing so allows individuals and groups to
negotiate the social complexity of human social life, thereby maintaining social
order and preventing social chaos. Culture does this by providing a meaning
and information system to its members, which is shared by a group and
transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of
survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life
(Matsumoto & Juang, 2013). Culture is what allowed the banana from southeast
Asia to appear on your table.
1644
Figure 1: The Role of Emotions in the Function of Culture
Cultural transmission of the meaning and information system to its

members is, therefore, a crucial aspect of culture. One of the ways this
transmission occurs is through the development of worldviews (including
attitudes, values, beliefs, and norms) related to emotions (Matsumoto & Hwang,
2013; Matsumoto et al., 2008). Worldviews related to emotions provide
guidelines for desirable emotions that facilitate norms for regulating individual
behaviors and interpersonal relationships. Our cultural backgrounds tell us
which emotions are ideal to have, and which are not (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung,
2006). The cultural transmission of information related to emotions occurs in
many ways, from childrearers to children, as well as from the cultural products
available in our world, such as books, movies, ads, and the like (Schnpflug,
1645
2009; Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007).

Cultures also inform us about what to do with our emotionsthat is, how
to manage or modify themwhen we experience them. One of the ways in
which this is done is through the management of our emotional expressions
through cultural display rules (Friesen, 1972). These are rules that are learned
early in life that specify the management and modification of our emotional
expressions according to social circumstances. Thus, we learn that big boys
dont cry or to laugh at the bosss jokes even though theyre not funny. By
affecting how individuals express their emotions, culture also influences how
people experience them as well.
Because one of the major functions of culture is to maintain social order in
order to ensure group efficiency and thus survival, cultures create worldviews,
rules, guidelines, and norms concerning emotions because emotions have
important intra- and interpersonal functions, as described above, and are
important motivators of behavior. Norms concerning emotion and its
regulation in all cultures serve the purpose of maintaining social order. Cultural
worldviews and norms help us manage and modify our emotional reactions
(and thus behaviors) by helping us to have certain kinds of emotional
experiences in the first place and by managing our reactions and subsequent
behaviors once we have them. By doing so, our culturally moderated emotions
can help us engage in socially appropriate behaviors, as defined by our cultures,
and thus reduce social complexity and increase social order, avoiding social
chaos. All of this allows us to live relatively harmonious and constructive lives
in groups. If cultural worldviews and norms about emotions did not exist, people
would just run amok having all kinds of emotional experiences, expressing their
emotions and then behaving in all sorts of unpredictable and potentially
harmful ways. If that were the case, it would be very difficult for groups and
societies to function effectively, and even for humans to survive as a species, if
emotions were not regulated in culturally defined ways for the common, social
good. Thus, emotions play a critical role in the successful functioning of any
1646
society and culture.
1647
Outside Resources
Web: See how well you can read other peoples facial expressions of emotion
http://www.humintell.com/free-demos/
1. When emotions occur, why do they simultaneously activate certain
physiological and psychological systems in the body and deactivate others?
2. Why is it difficult for people to act rationally and think happy thoughts when
they are angry? Conversely, why is it difficult to remember sad memories
or have sad thoughts when people are happy?
3. Youre walking down a deserted street when you come across a stranger
who looks scared. What would you say? What would you do? Why?
4. Youre walking down a deserted street when you come across a stranger
who looks angry. What would you say? What would you do? Why?
5. Think about the messages children receive from their environment (such
as from parents, mass media, the Internet, Hollywood movies, billboards,
and storybooks). In what ways do these messages influence the kinds of
emotions that children should and should not feel?
Vocabulary
Cultural display rules
These are rules that are learned early in life that specify the management and
modification of emotional expressions according to social circumstances.
Cultural display rules can work in a number of different ways. For example, they
can require individuals to express emotions as is (i.e., as they feel them), to
exaggerate their expressions to show more than what is actually felt, to tone
down their expressions to show less than what is actually felt, to conceal their
feelings by expressing something else, or to show nothing at all.
Interpersonal
This refers to the relationship or interaction between two or more individuals
in a group. Thus, the interpersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of
ones emotion on others, or to the relationship between oneself and others.
Intrapersonal
This refers to what occurs within oneself. Thus, the intrapersonal functions of
emotion refer to the effects of emotion to individuals that occur physically inside
their bodies and psychologically inside their minds.
Social and cultural

Society refers to a system of relationships between individuals and groups of
individuals; culture refers to the meaning and information afforded to that
system that is transmitted across generations. Thus, the social and cultural
functions of emotion refer to the effects that emotions have on the functioning
and maintenance of societies and cultures.
Social referencing
This refers to the process whereby individuals look for information from others
to clarify a situation, and then use that information to act. Thus, individuals will
often use the emotional expressions of others as a source of information to
make decisions about their own behavior.
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desire: Socialization of ideal affect through childrens storybooks.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Functions of Emotions by Hyisung Hwang and
David Matsumoto is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Emotion Experience and

Well-Being
Brett Ford & Iris B. Mauss
University of California, Berkeley
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Emotions dont just feel good or bad, they also contribute crucially to peoples
well-being and health. In general, experiencing positive emotions is good for
us, whereas experiencing negative emotions is bad for us. However, recent
research on emotions and well-being suggests this simple conclusion is
incomplete and sometimes even wrong. Taking a closer look at this research,
the present chapter provides a more complex relationship between emotion
and well-being. At least three aspects of the emotional experience appear to
affect how a given emotion is linked with well-being: the intensity of the emotion
experienced, the fluctuation of the emotion experienced, and the context in
which the emotion is experienced. While it is generally good to experience more
positive emotion and less negative emotion, this is not always the guide to the
good life.
Learning Objectives
Describe the general pattern of associations between emotion experience

and well-being.
Identify at least three aspects of emotion experience beyond positivity and

negativity of the emotion that affect the link between emotion experience
and well-being.
How we feel adds much of the flavor to lifes highestand lowestmoments.

Can you think of an important moment in your life that didnt involve strong
feelings? In fact, it might be hard to recall any times when you had no feeling
at all. Given how saturated human life is with feelings, and given how profoundly
feelings affect us, it is not surprising that much theorizing and research has
been devoted to uncovering how we can optimize our feelings, or, emotion
experiences, as they are referred to in psychological research.
Feelings contribute to well-being

So, which emotions are the best ones to feel? Take a moment to think about
how you might answer this question. At first glance, the answer might seem
obvious. Of course, we should experience as much positive emotion and as
little negative emotion as possible! Why? Because it is pleasant to experience
positive emotions and it is unpleasant to experience negative emotions (Russell
& Barrett, 1999). The conclusion that positive feelings are good and negative
feelings are bad might seem so obvious as not to even warrant the question,
much less bona fide psychological research. In fact, the very labels of positive
and negative imply the answer to this question. However, for the purposes of
this chapter, it may be helpful to think of positive and negative as descriptive
terms used to discuss two different types of experiences, rather than a true
value judgment. Thus, whether positive or negative emotions are good or bad
for us is an empirical question.
As it turns out, this empirical question has been on the minds of theorists
and researchers for many years. Such psychologists as Alice Isen, Charles
Carver, Michael Scheier, and, more recently, Barbara Fredrickson, Dacher
Keltner, Sonja Lyubomirsky, and others began asking whether the effects of
feelings could go beyond the obvious momentary pleasure or displeasure. In
other words, can emotions do more for us than simply make us feel good or
bad? This is not necessarily a new question; variants of it have appeared in the
nobaproject.com - Emotion Experience and Well-Being
1661
texts of thinkers such as Charles Darwin (1872) and Aristotle (1999). However,
modern psychological research has provided empirical evidence that feelings
are not just inconsequential byproducts. Rather, each emotion experience,
however fleeting, has effects on cognition, behavior, and the people around us.
For example, feeling happy is not only pleasant, but is also useful to feel when
in social situations because it helps us be friendly and collaborative, thus
promoting our positive relationships. Over time, the argument goes, these
effects add up to have tangible effects on peoples well-being (good mental and
physical health).
A variety of research has been inspired by the notion that our emotions are
involved in, and maybe even causally contribute to, our well-being. This research
has shown that people who experience more frequent positive emotions and
less frequent negative emotions have higher well-being (e.g., Fredrickson, 1998;
Lyubomirksy, King, & Diener, 2005), including increased life satisfaction (Diener,
Sandvik, & Pavot, 1991), increased physical health (Tugade, Fredrickson, &
Barrett, 2004; Veenhoven, 2008), greater resilience to stress (Folkman &
Moskowitz, 2000; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004), better social connection with
others (Fredrickson, 1998), and even longer lives (Veenhoven, 2008). Notably,
the effect of positive emotion on longevity is about as powerful as the effect of
smoking! Perhaps most importantly, some research directly supports that
emotional experiences cause these various outcomes rather than being just a
consequence of them (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008;
Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
At this point, you might be tempted to conclude that you should always
strive to experience as much positive emotion and as little negative emotion
as possible. However, recent research suggests that this conclusion may be
premature. This is because this conclusion neglects three central aspects of the
emotion experience. First, it neglects the intensity of the emotion: Positive and
negative emotions might not have the same effect on well-being at all
intensities. Second, it neglects how emotions fluctuate over time: Stable
1662
emotion experiences might have quite different effects from experiences that
change a lot. Third, it neglects the context in which the emotion is experienced:
The context in which we experience an emotion might profoundly affect
whether the emotion is good or bad for us. So, to address the question Which
emotions should we feel? we must answer, It depends! We next consider
each of the three aspects of feelings, and how they influence the link between
feelings and well-being.
So, which emotions are the best ones to feel? Take a moment to think
about how you might answer this question. At first glance, the answer might
seem obvious. Of course, we should experience as much positive emotion and
as little negative emotion as possible! Why? Because it is pleasant to experience
positive emotions and it is unpleasant to experience negative emotions (Russell
& Barrett, 1999). The conclusion that positive feelings are good and negative
feelings are bad might seem so obvious as not to even warrant the question,
much less bona fide psychological research. In fact, the very labels of positive
and negative imply the answer to this question. However, for the purposes of
this chapter, it may be helpful to think of positive and negative as descriptive
terms used to discuss two different types of experiences, rather than a true
value judgment. Thus, whether positive or negative emotions are good or bad
for us is an empirical question.
As it turns out, this empirical question has been on the minds of theorists
and researchers for many years. Such psychologists as Alice Isen, Charles
Carver, Michael Scheier, and, more recently, Barbara Fredrickson, Dacher
Keltner, Sonja Lyubomirsky, and others began asking whether the effects of
feelings could go beyond the obvious momentary pleasure or displeasure. In
other words, can emotions do more for us than simply make us feel good or
bad? This is not necessarily a new question; variants of it have appeared in the
texts of thinkers such as Charles Darwin (1872) and Aristotle (1999). However,
modern psychological research has provided empirical evidence that feelings
are not just inconsequential byproducts. Rather, each emotion experience,
1663
however fleeting, has effects on cognition, behavior, and the people around us.
For example, feeling happy is not only pleasant, but is also useful to feel when
in social situations because it helps us be friendly and collaborative, thus
promoting our positive relationships. Over time, the argument goes, these
effects add up to have tangible effects on peoples well-being (good mental and
physical health).
A variety of research has been inspired by the notion that our emotions are
involved in, and maybe even causally contribute to, our well-being. This research
has shown that people who experience more frequent positive emotions and
less frequent negative emotions have higher well-being (e.g., Fredrickson, 1998;
Lyubomirksy, King, & Diener, 2005), including increased life satisfaction (Diener,
Sandvik, & Pavot, 1991), increased physical health (Tugade, Fredrickson, &
Barrett, 2004; Veenhoven, 2008), greater resilience to stress (Folkman &
Moskowitz, 2000; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004), better social connection with
others (Fredrickson, 1998), and even longer lives (Veenhoven, 2008). Notably,
the effect of positive emotion on longevity is about as powerful as the effect of
smoking! Perhaps most importantly, some research directly supports that
emotional experiences cause these various outcomes rather than being just a
consequence of them (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008;
Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
At this point, you might be tempted to conclude that you should always
strive to experience as much positive emotion and as little negative emotion
as possible. However, recent research suggests that this conclusion may be
premature. This is because this conclusion neglects three central aspects of the
emotion experience. First, it neglects the intensity of the emotion: Positive and
negative emotions might not have the same effect on well-being at all
intensities. Second, it neglects how emotions fluctuate over time: Stable
emotion experiences might have quite different effects from experiences that
change a lot. Third, it neglects the context in which the emotion is experienced:
The context in which we experience an emotion might profoundly affect
1664
whether the emotion is good or bad for us. So, to address the question Which
emotions should we feel? we must answer, It depends! We next consider
each of the three aspects of feelings, and how they influence the link between
feelings and well-being.
The intensity of the emotion matters

Experiencing more frequent positive emotions is generally beneficial. But does
this mean that we should strive to feel as intense positive emotion as possible?
Recent research suggests that this unqualified conclusion might be wrong.
In fact, experiencing very high levels of positive emotion may be harmful
(Gruber, 2011; Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007). For instance, experiencing very
high levels of positive emotion makes individuals more likely to engage in risky
behaviors, such as binge eating and drug use (Cyders & Smith, 2008; Martin et
al., 2002). Furthermore, intense positive emotion is associated with the
experience of mania (Gruber et al., 2009; Johnson, 2005). It appears that the
experience of positive emotions follows an inverted U-shaped curve in relation
to well-being: more positive emotion is linked with increased well-being, but
only up to a point, after which even more positive emotion is linked with
decreased well-being (Grant & Schwartz, 2011). These empirical findings
underscore the sentiment put forth long ago by the philosopher Aristotle:
Moderation is key to leading a good life (1999).
Too much positive emotion may pose a problem for well-being. Might too
little negative emotion similarly be cause for concern? Although there is limited
empirical research on this subject, initial research suggests supports this idea.
For example, people who aim not to feel negative emotion are at risk for worse
well-being and adaptive functioning, including lower life satisfaction, lower
social support, worse college grades, and feelings of worse physical health
(Tamir & Ford, 2012a). Similarly, feeling too little embarrassment in response
to a social faux pas may damage someones social connections if they arent
1665
motivated by their embarrassment to make amends (Keltner & Buswell, 1997).

Low levels of negative emotion also seem to be involved in some forms of
psychopathology. For instance, blunted sadness in response to a sad situation
is a characteristic of major depressive disorder (Rottenberg, Gross, & Gotlib,
2005) and feeling too little fear is a hallmark of psychopathy (Marsh et al., 2008;
Patrick, 1994).
In sum, this first section suggests that the conclusion Of course we should
experience as much positive emotions and as little negative emotions as
possible is sometimes wrong. As it turns out, there can be too much of a good
thing and too little of a bad thing.
The fluctuation of the emotion matters

Emotions naturally varyor fluctuateover time (Davidson, 1998). We
probably all know someone whose emotions seem to fly everywhereone
minute theyre ecstatic, the next theyre upset. We might also know a person
who is pretty even-keeled, moderately happy, with only modest fluctuations
across time. When looking only at average emotion experience, say across a
month, both of these people might appear identical: moderately happy.
However, underlying these identical averages are two very different patterns
of fluctuation across time. Might these emotion fluctuations across time
beyond average intensityhave implications for well-being?
Overall, the available research suggests that how much emotions fluctuate
does indeed matter. In general, greater fluctuations are associated with worse
well-being. For example, higher fluctuation of positive emotionsmeasured
either within a single day or across two weekswas linked with lower well-being
and greater depression (Gruber, Kogan, Quoidbach, & Mauss, 2013). Fluctuation
in negative emotions, in turn, has been linked with increased depressive
symptoms (Peeters, Berkhof, Delespaul, Rottenberg, & Nicolson, 2003),
borderline personality disorder (Trull et al., 2008), and neuroticism (Eid & Diener,
1666
1999). These associations tend to hold even when controlling for average levels
of positive or negative emotion, which means that beyond the overall intensity
of positive or negative emotion, the fluctuation of ones emotions across time
is associated with well-being. While it is not entirely clear why fluctuations are
linked to worse well-being, one explanation is that strong fluctuations are
indicative of emotional instability (Kuppens, Oravecz, & Tuerlinckx, 2010).
Of course, this should not be taken to mean that we should rigidly feel the
exact same way every minute of every day, regardless of context. After all,
psychological flexibilityor the ability to adapt to changing situational demands
and experience emotions accordinglyhas generally demonstrated beneficial
links with well-being (Bonanno, Papa, Lalande, Westphal, & Coifman, 2004;
Kashdan, & Rottenberg, 2010). The question remains, however: what exact
amount of emotional fluctuation constitutes unhealthy instability and what
amount of emotional fluctuation constitutes healthy flexibility.
Again, then, we must qualify the conclusion that it is always better to
experience more positive emotions and less negative emotions. The degree to
which emotions fluctuate across time plays an important role. Overall, relative
stability (but not rigidity) in emotion experience appears to be optimal for wellbeing.
The context of the emotion experience matters

This chapter has already discussed two features of emotion experiences that
affect how they relate to well-being: the intensity of the emotion and the
fluctuation of the emotion over time. However, neither of these features takes
into account the context in which the emotion is experienced. At least three
different contexts may critically affect the links between emotion and wellbeing: (1) the external environment in which the emotion is being experienced,
(2) the other emotional responses (e.g., physiology, facial behavior) that are
currently activated, and (3) the other emotions that are currently being
1667
experienced.
The external environment

Emotions dont occur within a vacuum. Instead, they are usually elicited by and
experienced within specific situations that come in many shapes and sizes
from birthday parties to funerals, job interviews to mundane movie nights. The
situation in which an emotion is experienced has strong implications for
whether a given emotion is the best emotion to feel. Take happiness, for
example. Feeling happiness at a birthday party may be a great idea. However,
having the exact same experience of happiness at a funeral would likely not
bode well for your well-being.
When considering how the environment influences the link between
emotion and well-being, it is important to understand that each emotion has
its own function. For example, although fear is a negative emotion, fear helps
us notice and avoid threats to our safety (hman & Mineka, 2001), and may
thus the best emotion to feel in dangerous situations. Happiness can help
people cooperate with others, and may thus be the best emotion to feel when
we need to collaborate (e.g., Van Kleef, van Dijk, Steinel, & van Beest, 2008).
Anger can energize people to compete or fight with others, and may thus be
advantageous to experience it in confrontations (e.g., Tamir & Ford, 2012b; Van
Kleef et al., 2008). It might be disadvantageous to experience happiness (a
positive emotion) when we need to fight with someone; in this situation, it might
be better to experience anger (a negative emotion). This suggests that emotions
implications for well-being are not determined only by whether they are positive
or negative but also by whether they are well-matched to their context.
In support of this general idea, people who experience emotions that fit the
context at hand are more likely to recover from depression and trauma
(Bonanno et al., 2004; Rottenberg, Kasch, Gross, & Gotlib, 2002). Research has
also found that participants who want to feel emotions that match the context
1668
at hand (e.g., anger when confronting someone)even if that emotion was

negativeare more likely to experience greater well-being (Tamir & Ford,
2012a). Conversely, people who pursue emotions without regard to context
even if those emotions are positive, like happinessare more likely to
experience lower subjective well-being, more depression, greater loneliness,
and even worse grades (Ford & Tamir, 2012; Mauss et al., 2012; Mauss, Tamir,
Anderson, & Savino; 2011; Tamir & Ford, 2012a).
In sum, this research demonstrates that regardless of whether an emotion
is positive or negative, the context in which it is experienced critically influences
whether the emotion helps or hinders well-being.
Other emotional responses

The subjective experience of an emotionwhat an emotion feels likeis only
one aspect of an emotion. Other aspects include behaviors, facial expressions,
and physiological activation (Levenson, 1992). For example, if you feel excited
about having made a new friend, you might want to be near that person, you
might smile, and your heart might be beating faster as you do so. Often, these
different responses travel together, meaning that when we feel an emotion we
typically have corresponding behaviors and physiological responses (e.g.,
Ekman, 1972; Levenson, 1992). The degree to which responses travel together
has sometimes been referred to as emotion coherence (Mauss, Levenson,
McCarter, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2005). However, these different responses do not
co-occur in all instances and for all people (Bradley & Lang, 2000; Mauss et al.,
2005; for review, see Fridlund, Ekman, & Oster, 1987). For example, some people
may choose not to express an emotion they are feeling internally (English &
John, 2013), which would result in lower coherence.
1669
Does coherenceabove and beyond emotion experience per sematter

for peoples well-being? To examine this question, one study measured
participants emotion coherence by showing them a funny film clip of stand-up
comedy while recording their experience of positive emotion as well as their
behavioral displays of positive emotion (Mauss, Shallcross, et al., 2011). As
predicted, participants differed quite a bit in their coherence. Some showed
almost perfect coherence between their behavior and experience, whereas
others behavior and experience corresponded not much at all. Interestingly,
the more that participants behavior and experience cohered in the laboratory
session, the lower levels of depressive symptoms and the higher levels of wellbeing they experienced 6 months later. This effect was found when statistically
controlling for overall intensity of positive emotions experienced. In other
words, experiencing high levels of positive emotion aided well-being only if it
was accompanied by corresponding positive facial expressions.
But why would coherence of different emotional responses predict wellbeing? One of the key functions of an emotion is social communication (Keltner
& Haidt, 1999), and arguably, successful social communication depends on
whether an individuals emotions are being accurately communicated to others.
When someones emotional behavior doesnt match their experience it may
disrupt communication because it could make the individual appear confusing
or inauthentic to others. In support of this theory, the above study found that
lower coherence was associated with worse well-being because people with
lower coherence felt less socially connected to others (Mauss, Shallcross, et al.,
2011). These findings are also consistent with a large body of research
examining the extent to which people mask the outward display of an emotional
experience, or suppression. This research has demonstrated that people who
habitually use suppression not only experience worse well being (Gross & John,
2003), but they also seem to be particularly worse off with regard to their social
relationships (Srivastava, Tamir, McGonigal, John, & Gross, 2009).
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These findings underscore the importance of examining whether an

individuals experience is traveling together with his or her emotional responses,
above and beyond overall levels of subjective experience. Thus, to understand
how emotion experiences predict well-being, it is important not only to consider
the experience of an emotion, but also the other emotional responses currently
activated.
Other emotions
Up until now, we have treated emotional experiences as though people can
only experience one emotion at a time. However, it should be kept in mind that
positive and negative emotions are not simply the opposite of one another.
Instead, they tend to be independent of one another, which means that a person
can feel positive and negative emotions at the same time (Larsen, McGraw,
Mellers, & Cacioppo, 2004). For example, how does it feel to win a prize when
you expected a greater prize? Given what might have been, situations like this
can elicit both happiness and sadness. Or, take schadenfreude (a German
term for deriving pleasure from someone elses misfortune), or aviman (an
Indian term for prideful, loving anger), or nostaligia (an English term for
affectionate sadness about something from the past): these terms capture the
notion that people can feel both positively and negatively within the same
emotional experience. And as it turns out, the other emotions that someone
feels (e.g., sadness) during the experience of an emotion (e.g., happiness)
influence whether that emotion experience has a positive or negative effect on
well-being.
Importantly, the extent to which someone experiences different emotions
at the same timeor mixed emotionsmay be beneficial for their well-being.
Early support for this theory was provided by a study of bereaved spouses. In
the study, participants were asked to talk about their recently deceased spouse,
which undoubtedly elicited strong negative emotions. However, some
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participants expressed positive emotions in addition to the negative ones, and

it was those participants who recovered more quickly from their loss (Bonanno
& Keltner, 1997). A recent study provides additional support for the benefits of
mixed emotions, finding that adults who experienced more mixed emotions
over a span of 10 years were physically healthier than adults whose experience
of mixed emotions did not increase over time (Hershfield, Scheibe, Sims &
Carstensen, 2013). Indeed, individuals who can experience positive emotions
even in the face of negative emotions are more likely to cope successfully with
stressful situations (Larsen, Hemenover, Norris, & Cacioppo, 2003).
Why would mixed emotions be beneficial for well-being? Stressful situations
often elicit negative emotions, and recall that negative emotions have some
benefits, as we outlined above. However, so do positive emotions, and thus
having the ability to take the good with the bad might be another key
component of well-being. Again, experiencing more positive emotion and less
negative emotion may not always be optimal. Sometimes, a combination of
both may be best.
Conclusion
Are emotions just fleeting experiences with no consequence beyond our
momentary comfort or discomfort? A variety of research answers a firm no
emotions are integral predictors of our well-being. This chapter examined how,
exactly, emotion experience might be linked to well-being. The obvious answer
to this question is: of course, experiencing as much positive emotions and as
little negative emotions as possible is good for us. But although this is true in
general, recent research suggests that this obvious answer is incomplete and
sometimes even wrong. As philosopher Robert Solomon said, Living well is not
just maximizing the good feelings and minimizing the bad. () A happy life is
not necessarily filled with happy moments (2007, p. 86).
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Outside Resources
Journal: If you are interested in direct access to research on emotion, take a
look at the journal Emotion
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/emo/index.aspx
Video: Check out videos of expert emotion researchers discussing their work
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNew731mjIZn43G_Y5otqKzJA
Video: See psychologist Daniel Gilbert and other experts discussing current
research on emotion in the PBS series This Emotional Life
http://video.pbs.org/program/this-emotional-life/
1. Much research confirms the relative benefits of positive emotions and
relative costs of negative emotions. Could positive emotions be detrimental,
or could negative emotions be beneficial? Why or why not?
2. We described some contexts that influence the effects of emotional
experiences on well-being. What other contexts might influence the links
between emotions and well-being? Age? Gender? Culture? How so?
3. How could you design an experiment that tests(A) When and why it is
beneficial to feel a negative emotion such as sadness? (B) How is the
coherence of emotion behavior and emotion experience linked to wellbeing? (C) How likely a person is to feel mixed (as compared to simple)
emotions?
Vocabulary
Emotion
An experiential, physiological, and behavioral response to a personally
meaningful stimulus.
Emotion coherence
The degree to which emotional responses (subjective experience, behavior,
physiology, etc.) converge with one another.
Emotion fluctuation
The degree to which emotions vary or change in intensity over time.
Well-being
The experience of mental and physical health and the absence of disorder.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Emotion Experience and Well-Being by Brett
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Emotional Intelligence
Marc Brackett, Sarah Delaney & Peter Salovey
Yale University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
In this chapter, we review the construct of emotional intelligence by examining
its underlying theoretical model, measurement tools, validity, and applications
in real-world settings. We use empirical research from the past few decades to
support and discuss competing definitions of emotional intelligence and
possible future directions for the field.
Learning Objectives
Understand the theoretical foundations of emotional intelligence and the

relationship between emotion and cognition.
Distinguish between mixed and ability models of emotional intelligence.
Understand various methods for measuring emotional intelligence.
Describe emotional intelligences evolution as a theoretical, successoriented, and achievement-based framework.
Identify and define key concepts of emotional intelligence (including

emotion regulation, expression of emotion, understanding emotion, etc.)
and the ways they contribute to decision making, relationship building, and
overall well-being.
Introduction
Imagine you are waiting in line to buy tickets to see your favorite band. Knowing
tickets are limited and prices will rise quickly, you showed up 4 hours early.
Unfortunately, so did everyone else. The line stretches for blocks and hasnt
moved since you arrived. It starts to rain. You are now close to Will Call when
you notice three people jump ahead of you to join their friends, who appear to
have been saving a spot for them. They talk loudly on their cellphones as you
inch forward, following the slow procession of others waiting in line. You finally
reach the ticket counter only to have the clerk tell you the show is sold out. You
notice the loud group off to the side, waving their tickets in the air. At this exact
moment, a fiery line of emotion shoots through your whole body. Your heart
begins to race, and you feel the urge to either slam your hands on the counter
or scream in the face of those you believe have slighted you. What are these
feelings, and what will you do with them?
Emotional intelligence (EI) involves the idea that cognition and emotion are
interrelated. From this notion stems the belief that emotions influence decision
making, relationship building, and everyday behavior. After spending hours
waiting eagerly in the pouring rain and having nothing to show for it, is it even
possible to squelch such intense feelings of anger due to injustice? From an EI
perspective, emotions are active mental processes that can be managed, so
long as individuals develop the knowledge and skills to do so. But how, exactly,
do we reason with our emotions? In other words, how intelligent is our emotion
system?
To begin, well briefly review the concept of standard, or general, intelligence.
The late American psychologist, David Wechsler, claimed that intelligence is the
global capacity of an individual to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal
effectively with their environment (Wechsler, 1944). If we choose to accept this
definition, then intelligence is an operational process through which we learn
to utilize our internal abilities in order to better navigate our surroundingsa
nobaproject.com - Emotional Intelligence
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process that is most certainly similar to, if not impacted by, our emotions. In
1990, Drs. Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer first explored and defined EI. They
explained EI as the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and
emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide ones
thinking and actions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). EI, according to these
researchers, asserts that all individuals possess the ability to leverage their
emotions to enhance thinking, judgment, and behavior. This chapter aims to
unpack this theory by exploring the growing empirical research on EI, as well
as what can be learned about its impact on our daily lives.
History of EI
Traditionally, many psychologists and philosophers viewed cognition and
emotion as separate domains, with emotion posing a threat to productive and
rational thinking. Have you ever been told not to let your emotions get in the
way of your decisions? This separation of passion and reason stretches as far
back as early ancient Greece (Lyons, 1999). Additionally, mid-20th century
scholars explained emotions as mentally destabilizing forces (Young, 1943). Yet,
there are traces throughout history where the intersection of emotion and
cognition has been theoretically questioned. In 350 B.C.E., the famous Greek
philosopher Aristotle wrote, some men . . . if they have first perceived and seen
what is coming and have first roused themselves and their calculative faculty,
are not defeated by their emotion, whether it be pleasant or painful( Aristotle,
trans. 2009, Book VII, Chapter 7, Section 8). Still, our social interactions and
experiences suggest this belief has undergone centuries of disregard, both in
Western and Eastern cultures. These are the same interactions that teach us
to toughen up and keep our emotions hidden. So, how did we arrive at EIa
scientific theory that claims all individuals have access to a calculative faculty
through emotion?
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In the early 1970s, many scientists began to recognize the limitations of the
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)the standardized assessment of intelligence. In
particular, they noticed its inability to explain differences among individuals
unrelated to just cognitive ability alone. These frustrations led to the
advancement of more inclusive theories of intelligence such as Gardners
multiple intelligences theory (1983/1993) and Sternbergs triarchic theory of
intelligence (1985). Researchers also began to explore the influence of moods
and emotions on thought processes, including judgment (Isen, Shalker, Clark,
& Karp, 1978) and memory (Bower, 1981). It was through these theoretical
explorations and empirical studies that the concept of EI began to take shape.
Today, the field of EI is extensive, encompassing varying perspectives and
measurement tools. Some attribute this growth to Daniel Golemans
popularization of the construct in his 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why
It Can Matter More Than IQ. Generating public appeal, he focused on EIs
connection to personal and professional success. Golemans model of EI
includes a blend of emotion-related skills, traditional cognitive intelligence, and
distinct personality traits. This embellished conceptualization of EI, followed by
an increase in EI literature, contributed, at least in part, to conflicting definitional
and measurement models within the field.
Models and Measures of EI

Many researchers would agree that EI theory will only be as successful as its
form of measurement. Today, there are three primary models of EI: the ability
model (Mayer & Salovey 1997; Salovey & Mayer, 1990), mixed models (Bar-On,
2006; Boyatzis & Sala, 2004), and the trait EI model (Petrides & Furnham, 2003).
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Ability models approach EI as a standard intelligence that utilizes a distinct

set of mental abilities that (1) are intercorrelated, (2) relate to other extant
intelligences, and (3) develop with age and experience (Mayer, Caruso, &
Salovey, 1999; Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, & Sitarenios, 2003). In contrast, both
mixed and trait models define and measure EI as a set of perceived abilities,
skills, and personality traits.
Ability Models: Mayer and Salovey Four-Branch Model of

EI
In this section, we describe the EI (Four-Branch) model espoused by Mayer and
Salovey (1997). This model proposes that four fundamental emotion-related
abilities comprise EI: (1) perception/expression of emotion, (2) use of emotion
to facilitate thinking, (3) understanding of emotion, and (4) management of
emotion in oneself and others.
1. Perception of Emotion
Perception of emotion refers to peoples capacity to identify emotions in
themselves and others using facial expressions, tone of voice, and body
language (Brackett et al., 2013). Those skilled in the perception of emotion also
are able to express emotion accordingly and communicate emotional needs.
For example, lets return to our opening scenario. After being turned away at
the ticket booth, you slowly settle into the reality that you cannot attend the
concert. A group of your classmates, however, managed to buy tickets and are
discussing their plans at your lunch table. When they ask if you are excited for
the opening band, you shrug and pick at your food. If your classmates are skilled
at perception of emotion, then they will read your facial expression and body
language and determine that you might be masking your true feelings of
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disappointment, frustration, or disengagement from the conversation. As a

result, they might ask you if something is wrong or choose not to talk about the
concert in your presence.
2. Use of Emotion to Facilitate Thinking

Using emotion to enhance cognitive activities and adapt to various situations
is the second component of EI. People who are skilled in this area understand
that some emotional states are more optimal for targeted outcomes than
others. Feeling frustrated over the concert tickets may be a helpful mindset as
you are about to play a football game or begin a wrestling match. The high levels
of adrenaline associated with frustration may boost your energy and strength,
helping you compete. These same emotions, however, will likely impede your
ability to sit at your school desk and solve algebra problems or write an essay.
Individuals who have developed and practiced this area of EI actively
generate emotions that support certain tasks or objectives. For example, a
teacher skilled in this domain may recognize that her students need to
experience positive emotions, like joy or excitement, in order to succeed when
doing creative work such as brainstorming or collaborative art projects. She
may plan accordingly by scheduling these activities for after recess, knowing
students will likely come into the classroom cheerful and happy from playing
outside.Making decisions based on the impact that emotional experiences may
have on actions and behavior is an essential component of EI.
3. Understanding of Emotion
EI also includes the ability to differentiate between emotional states, as well as
their specific causes and trajectories. Feelings of sadness or disappointment
can result from the loss of a person or object, such as your concert tickets.
Standing in the rain, by most standards, is merely a slight annoyance. However,
1691
waiting in the rain for hours in a large crowd will likely result in irritation or
frustration. Feeling like you have been treated unfairly when someone cuts in
line and takes the tickets you feel you deserved can cause your unpleasantness
to escalate into anger and resentment. People skilled in this area are aware of
this emotional trajectory and also have a strong sense of how multiple emotions
can work together to produce another. For instance, it is possible that you may
feel contempt for the people who cut in front of you in line. However, this feeling
of contempt does not arise from anger alone. Rather, it is the combination of
anger and disgust by the fact that these individuals, unlike you, have disobeyed
the rules. Successfully discriminating between negative emotions is an
important skill related to understanding of emotion, and it may lead to more
effective emotion management (Feldman Barret, Gross, Christensen, &
Benvenuto, 2001).
4. Management of Emotion
Emotion management includes the ability to remain open to a wide range of
emotions, recognize the value of feeling certain emotions in specific situations,
and understand which short- and long-term strategies are most efficient for
emotion regulation (Gross, 1998). Anger seems an appropriate response to
falling short of a goal (concert tickets) that you pursued both fairly and patiently.
In fact, you may even find it valuable to allow yourself the experience of this
feeling. However, this feeling will certainly need to be managed in order to
prevent aggressive, unwanted behavior. Coming up with strategies, such as
taking a deep breath and waiting until you feel calm before letting the group
ahead of you know they cut in line, will allow you to regulate your anger and
prevent the situation from escalating. Using this strategy may even let you gain
insight into other perspectivesperhaps you learn they had already purchased
their tickets and were merely accompanying their friends.
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B. Measuring EI with Performance Measures

While self-report tests are common in psychology, ability models of EI require
a different approach: performance measures. Performance measures require
respondents to demonstrate their four emotion skills (Mayer & Salovey, 1997)
by solving emotion-related problems. Among these measures, the MayerSalovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) (Mayer, Salovey, &
Caruso, 2002) is the most commonly used. The MSCEIT is a 141-item test
comprised of a total of eight tasks, two per each of the four emotion abilities.
To measure emotion management, for example, respondents are asked to read
through scenarios involving emotionally charged conflicts and then asked to
evaluate the effectiveness of different resolutions. For a comprehensive review
of the MSCEIT and other performance-assessment tools, please see Rivers,
Brackett, Salovey, and Mayer (2007).
C. Mixed and Trait Models of EI

Unlike ability models, mixed models offer a broad definition of EI that combines
mental abilities with personality traits such as optimism, motivation, and stress
tolerance (see Cherniss, 2010, for a review). The two most widely used mixed
models are the Boyatzis-Goleman model (Boyatzis & Sala, 2004) and the BarOn model of emotional-social intelligence (Bar-On, 2006). The BoyatzisGoleman model divides EI competencies into four groups: self-awareness, selfmanagement, social awareness, and relationship management. Similarly, the
Bar-On model offers five main components of EI: intrapersonal skills,
interpersonal skills, adaptability, stress management, and mood. Developers
of the trait EI model (Petrides & Furnham, 2003) explain EI as a constellation of
self-perceived, emotion-related personality traits.
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D. Mixed and Trait Model Assessment: Self-Report

Self-report assessmentssurveys that ask respondents to report their own
emotional skillsare most often associated with mixed and trait models. Selfreport measures are usually quick to administer. However, many researchers
argue that their vulnerability to social-desirability biases and faking are
problematic (Day & Carroll, 2008). In addition, there is wide speculation
concerning the potential for inaccurate judgments of personal ability and skill
on behalf of responders (e.g., Paulhus, Lysy, & Yik, 1998). Self-report measures
have been shown to lack discriminant validity from existing personality
measures and have very low correlations with ability measures of EI (Brackett
& Mayer, 2003; Brackett, Rivers, Shiffman, Lerner, & Salovey, 2006). According
to Mayer and colleagues (2008), self-report tests may show reliability for
individual personalities, but should not be considered EI because performance
tests are the gold standard for measuring intelligence.
Although tensions between ability and mixed or trait model approaches
appear to divide the field, competing definitions and measurements can only
enhance the quality of research devoted to EI and its impact on real-world
outcomes.
E. Room for Debate

While mixed and trait models shed some light on the concept of EI, many
researchers feel these approaches undermine the EI construct as a discrete
and measurable mental ability. EI, when conceptualized as an ability, most
accurately describes the relationship between cognition and emotion by
accounting for changes in individual outcomes that are often missed when
focusing solely on cognitive intelligence or personality traits (OBoyle,
Humphrey, Pollack, Hawver, & Story, 2010). Whats more, among adults,
personality traits provide little room for malleability, making development in
1694
these areas difficult even when combined with emotional skills. For example,
characteristics such as agreeableness and neuroticism, while contributing to
personal and professional success, are seen as innate traits that are likely to
remain static over time. Distinguishing EI from personality traits helps us better
target the skills that can improve desirable outcomes (Brackett et al., 2013).
Approaching EI with language that provides the opportunity for personal growth
is crucial to its application. Because the ability model aligns with this approach,
the remainder of this chapter will focus on ability EI and the ways in which it
can be applied both in professional and academic settings.
Outcomes
Historically, emotions have been thought to have no place in the classroom or
workplace (Sutton & Wheatly, 2003). Yet today, we know empirical research
supports the belief that EI has the potential to influence decision making, health,
relationships, and performance in both professional and academic settings (e.
g., Brackett et al., 2013; Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011).
A. Workplace
Research conducted in the workplace supports positive links between EI and
enhanced job performance, occupational well-being, and leadership
effectiveness. In one study, EI was associated with performance indicators such
as company rank, percent merit increase, ratings of interpersonal facilitation,
and affect and attitudes at work (Lopes, Grewal, Kadis, Gall, & Salovey, 2006).
Similar correlations have been found between EI and a variety of managerial
simulations involving problem solving, determining employee layoffs, adjusting
claims, and negotiating successfully (Day & Carroll, 2004; Feyerherm & Rice,
2002; Mueller & Curhan, 2006). Emotion management is seen as most likely to
affect job performance by influencing social and business interactions across
1695
a diverse range of industries (OBoyle et al., 2010).

Leaders in the workplace also benefit from high EI. Experts in the field of
organizational behavior are beginning to view leadership as a process of social
interactions where leaders motivate, influence, guide, and empower followers
to achieve organizational goals (Bass & Riggio, 2006). This is known as
transformational leadershipwhere leaders create a vision and then inspire
others to work in this direction (Bass, 1985). In a sample of 24 managers, MSCEIT
scores correlated positively with a leaders ability to inspire followers to emulate
their own actions and attend to the needs and problems of each individual
(Leban & Zulauf, 2004).
B. Schools
When applied in educational settings, theoretical foundations of EI are often
integrated into social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. SEL is the
process of merging thinking, feeling, and behaving. These skills enable
individuals to be aware of themselves and of others, make responsible
decisions, and manage their own behaviors and those of others (Elias et al.,
1997; Elbertson, Brackett, & Weissberg, 2010). SEL programs are designed to
enhance the climate of a classroom, school, or district, with the ultimate goal
of enhancing childrens social and emotional skills and improving their academic
outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2003). Adopting curricula that focus on these
elements is believed to enable success in academics, relationships, and,
ultimately, in life (Becker & Luthar, 2002; Catalino, Berglundh, Ryan, Lonczek, &
Hawkins, 2004).
Take a moment to think about the role of a teacher. How might emotions
impact the climate of a classroom? If a teacher enters a classroom feeling
anxious, disgruntled, or unenthused, these states will most likely be noticed,
and felt, by the students. If not managed well, these negative emotions can hurt
the classroom dynamic and prevent student learning (Travers, 2001). Research
1696
suggests that the abilities to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions
are imperative for effective teaching (Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, White, & Salovey,
2012; Brackett, Reyes, Rivers, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2011; Hargreaves, 2001). In
a study that examined the relationship between emotion regulation and both
job satisfaction and burnout among secondary-school teachers, researchers
found that emotion regulation among teachers was associated with positive
affect, support from principals, job satisfaction, and feelings of personal
accomplishment (Brackett, Palomera, Mojsa-Kaja, Reyes, & Salovey, 2010).
EI, when embedded into SEL programs, has been shown to contribute
positively to personal and academic success in students (Durlak, Weissberg,
Dymnicki, Tayloer, & Schellinger, 2011). Research also shows that strong
emotion regulation can help students pay attention in class, adjust to the school
environment, and manage academic anxiety (Lopes & Salovey, 2004; Mestre,
Guil, Lopes, Salovey, & Gil-Olarte, 2006). A recent randomized control trial of
RULER also found that, after one year, schools that used RULERcompared
with those that used only the standard curriculumwere rated by independent
observers as having higher degrees of warmth and connectedness between
teachers and students, more autonomy and leadership, less bullying among
students, and teachers who focused more on students interests and
motivations (Rivers, Brackett, Reyes, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2013).
Limitations and Future Directions

There is a need for further development in EI theory and measurement, as well
as more empirical research on its associated outcomes (Mayer, Salovey, &
Caruso, 2008). Despite its prominent role as the signature performance
assessment of EI, the MSCEIT has a number of limitations. For example, it does
not allow for the assessment of several abilities. These abilities include the
expression of emotion and monitoring or reflecting on ones own emotions.
(Brackett et al. 2013). Researchers must also address growing criticisms,
1697
particularly those that stretch beyond the measurement debate and question
the validity of the EI construct when defined too broadly (Locke, 2005). In order
to advance EI research, there is a great need for investigators to address these
issues by reconciling disparate definitions and refining existing measures.
Potential considerations for future research in the field should include deeper
investigation into the genetic (versus acquired) and fluid (versus crystallized)
aspects of EI. The cultural implications and differences of EI also are important
to consider. Studies should expand beyond the United States and Europe in
order for the theory of EI to be cross-culturally valid and for its applications and
outcomes to be achieved more universally. Greater attention should also be
paid to developmental trajectories, gender differences, and how EI operates in
the workplace and educational settings (Brackett et al., 2013).
Although further explorations and research in the field of EI are needed,
current findings indicate a fundamental relationship between emotion and
cognition. Returning to our opening question, what will you do when denied
concert tickets? One of the more compelling aspects of EI is that it grants us
reign over our own emotionsforces once thought to rule the self by denying
individual agency. But with this power comes responsibility. If you are enraged
about not getting tickets to the show, perhaps you can take a few deep breaths,
go for a walk, and wait until your physiological indicators (shaky hands or
accelerated heartbeat) subside. Once youve removed yourself, your feeling of
rage may lessen to annoyance. Lowering the intensity level of this feeling (a
process known as down regulating) will help re-direct your focus on the situation
itself, rather than the activated emotion. In this sense, emotion regulation allows
you to objectively view the point of conflict without dismissing your true feelings.
Merely down regulating the emotional experience facilitates better problem
solving. Now that you are less activated, what is the best approach? Should you
talk to the ticket clerk? Ask to see the sales manager? Or do you let the group
know how you felt when they cut the line? All of these options present better
solutions than impulsively acting out rage.
1698
As discussed in this chapter, research shows that the cultivation and

development of EI contributes to more productive, supportive, and healthy
experiences. Whether were waiting in a crowded public place, delivering lesson
plans, or engaging in conversation with friends, we are the ultimate decision
makers when it comes how we want to feel and, in turn, behave. By engaging
the right mental processes and strategies, we can better understand, regulate,
and manage our emotional states in order to live the lives we desire.
1699
Outside Resources
Book: Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam.
Book: Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York,

NY: Bantam.
1. What are the four emotional abilities that comprise EI, and how do they
relate to each other?
2. What are three possible implications for using ability-based and mixed or
trait-based models of EI?
3. Discuss the ways in which EI can contribute positively to the workplace and
classroom settings.
Vocabulary
Ability model
An approach that views EI as a standard intelligence that utilizes a distinct set
of mental abilities that (1) are intercorrelated, (2) relate to other extant
intelligences, and (3) develop with age and experience (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).
Emotional intelligence
The ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to
discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking
and actions. (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). EI includes four specific abilities:
perceiving, using, understanding, and managing emotions.
Four-Branch Model
An ability model developed by Drs. Peter Salovey and John Mayer that includes
four main components of EI, arranged in hierarchical order, beginning with
basic psychological processes and advancing to integrative psychological
processes. The branches are (1) perception of emotion, (2) use of emotion to
facilitate thinking, (3) understanding emotion, and (4) management of emotion.
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)

A 141-item performance assessment of EI that measures the four emotion
abilities (as defined by the four-branch model of EI) with a total of eight tasks.
Mixed and Trait Models

Approaches that view EI as a combination of self-perceived emotion skills,
personality traits, and attitudes.
Performance assessment
A method of measurement associated with ability models of EI that evaluate
the test takers ability to solve emotion-related problems.
Self-report assessment
A method of measurement associated with mixed and trait models of EI, which
evaluates the test takers perceived emotion-related skills, distinct personality
traits, and other characteristics.
Social and emotional learning (SEL)
The real-world application of EI in an educational setting and/or classroom that
involves curricula that teach the process of integrating thinking, feeling, and
behaving in order to become aware of the self and of others, make responsible
decisions, and manage ones own behaviors and those of others (Elias et al.,
1997)
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Culture and Emotion

Jeanne Tsai
Stanford University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
How do peoples cultural ideas and practices shape their emotions (and other
types of feelings)? In this chapter, I describe findings from studies comparing
North American (United States, Canada) and East Asian (Chinese, Japanese,
Korean) contexts. These studies reveal both cultural similarities and differences
in various aspects of emotional life. I discuss the scientific and practical
importance of these findings and conclude with directions for future research.
Learning Objectives
Review the history of cross-cultural studies of emotion.
Learn about recent empirical findings and theories of culture and emotion.
Understand why cultural differences in emotion matter.
Explore current and future directions in culture and emotion research.
Imagine that you are traveling in a country that you have never been to before.
Everything seems different: the sights, the smells, and the sounds. People are
speaking a language you do not understand, and wearing clothes that are
different from yours. But they greet you with a smile, and you sense that despite
the differences that you observe, deep down inside, these people have the
same feelings that you do.
But is this true? While most scholars agree that members of different
cultures may vary in the foods they eat, the languages they speak, and the
holidays they celebrate, scholars disagree about the extent to which culture
shapes peoples emotions and feelings, including what people feel, what they
express, and what they do during an emotional event. Understanding how
culture shapes peoples emotional lives and what impact emotion has on
psychological health and well-being in different cultures will not only advance
the study of human behavior, but will also benefit multicultural societies. Across
a variety of settingsacademic, business, medicalpeople worldwide are
coming into more contact with people from different cultures than their own.
In order to communicate and function effectively with people from other
cultures, people must understand the ways in which their cultural ideas and
practices shape their emotions.
Historical Background
In the 1950s and 1960s, social scientists tended to fall into one of two camps.
The universalist camp claimed that despite cultural differences in customs and
traditions, at a fundamental level, all humans feel similarly. Universalists
believed that because emotions evolved in response to the environments of
our primordial ancestors, emotions are the same across different human
cultures. Indeed, people often describe their emotions as automatic, natural,
physiological, and instinctual, supporting the view that emotions are hardwired and universal.
nobaproject.com - Culture and Emotion
1715
The social constructivist camp, however, claimed that despite a common

evolutionary heritage, humans evolved to adapt to their environments, and
because human environments vary so widely, peoples emotions are also
malleable and culturally variable. For instance, Lutz (1988) argued that many
Western views of emotion assume that emotions are singular events situated
within individuals, whereas Ifaluk views of emotion focus on exchanges
between individuals (p. 212). Social constructivists argued that because cultural
ideas and practices are all encompassing, people are often unaware of how
their feelings are shaped by their cultures, and therefore emotions can feel
automatic, natural, physiological, and instinctual, and yet still be primarily
culturally shaped.
In the 1970s, Ekman conducted one of the first scientific studies that
attempted to address the universalistsocial constructivist debate. He and
Friesen devised a system to measure peoples facial muscle activity, called the
Facial Action Coding System (FACS; Ekman & Friesen, 1978). Using FACS, Ekman
and Friesen analyzed peoples facial expressions when they were emotional,
and identified specific facial muscle movements that were associated with
specific emotions (e.g., happiness, anger, sadness, fear, disgust). Ekman and
Friesen then took photos of people posing these different emotional facial
expressions (Figure 1). With the help of their colleagues at different universities
across the world, Ekman and Friesen showed these pictures to members of
vastly different cultures, gave them a list of emotion words (translated into the
relevant languages), and asked them to match the emotional facial expressions
in the photos with one of the emotion words on the list (Ekman & Friesen, 1971;
Ekman et al., 1987).
1716
Figure 1. Facial expressions associated with happiness, sadness, disgust, and anger based
on the Facial Action Coding System.
Across cultures, participants recognized the emotional facial expressions

by matching them with the correct emotion words at levels greater than
chance, leading Ekman and his colleagues to conclude that there were
universally recognized emotional facial expressions. At the same time, they
found considerable variability across cultures in recognition rates. For instance,
whereas 95% of U.S. participants associated a smile with happiness, only 69%
of Sumatran participants did; similarly, 86% of U.S. participants associated
wrinkling of the nose with disgust, but only 60% of Japanese did (Ekman et al.,
1987). Ekman and colleagues interpreted this variation as demonstrating
cultural differences in display rules, or rules about what emotions are
appropriate to show in a given situation (Ekman, 1972). Indeed, since this initial
work, Matsumoto and his colleagues have demonstrated wide cultural
differences in display rules (Safdar et al., 2009).
These findings suggest both cultural similarities and differences in the
recognition of emotional facial expressions (although see Russell, 1994, for
criticism of this work). Interestingly, in the past 10 years, increasing research
has demonstrated cultural differences in not only display rules, but also the
degree to which people focus on the face (versus other aspects of the social
1717
context) (Masuda, Ellsworth, Mesquita, Leu, Tanida, & Van de Veerdonk, 2008),
and the degree to which people focus on different features of the face (Yuki,
Maddux, & Matsuda, 2007) when perceiving peoples emotions.
But how does culture shape other aspects of emotional life, such as how
people emotionally respond to different situations, how people want to feel,
and what makes people happy? Today, most scholars would agree that
emotions and other related feeling states are multifaceted, and that both
cultural similarities and differences can be found for each facet of emotion.
Thus, rather than classify emotions as universal or socially constructed, scholars
are attempting to identify the specific ways in which these different aspects of
emotional life are similar and are different across cultures. These endeavors
are yielding new insights into the cultural shaping of emotion.
Current and Research Theory

Because there are many different cultures of the world and many different
facets of emotion, for the remainder of the chapter, I focus on two cultural
contexts that have received the most empirical attention by social scientists:
North American (United States, Canada) and East Asian (China, Japan, and
Korea) contexts. Social scientists have focused on North American and East
Asian contexts because they differ in obvious ways, including their geographical
locations, histories, languages, and religions. Moreover, since the 1980s, largescale studies have revealed that North American and East Asian contexts differ
in their values and attitudes, such as the prioritization of personal vs. group
needs (individualism vs. collectivism) (Hofstede, 2001). Whereas North
American contexts encourage its members to prioritize personal over group
needs (to be individualistic), East Asian contexts encourage its members to
prioritize group over personal needs (to be collectivistic).
1718
Cultural Models of Self in North American and East

Asian Contexts
In a seminal paper, cultural psychologists Markus and Kitayama (1991)
proposed that previously observed differences in individualism and collectivism
translated into different models of the self. Specifically, they argued that in
North American contexts, the dominant model of the self is an independent
one, in which being a person means being distinct from others and behaving
similarly across situations. In East Asian contexts, however, the dominant model
of the self is an interdependent one, in which being a person means being
fundamentally connected to others and being responsive to situational
demands. For example, in a classic study (Cousins, 1989), American and
Japanese students were asked complete the Twenty Statements Test, in which
they were asked to complete the sentence stem, I am ______ twenty times. U.
S. participants were more likely to complete the stem with psychological
attributes (e.g., friendly, cheerful) than Japanese; Japanese participants were
more likely to complete the stem with references to social roles and
responsibilities (e.g., a daughter, a student) (Cousins, 1989). These different
models of the self result in different desired ways of interacting with others. An
independent model of self teaches persons to express themselves and to
influence others (i.e., change their environments to be consistent with their
own beliefs and desires). In contrast, an interdependent model of self teaches
persons to suppress their own beliefs and desires and to adjust to others (i.e.,
change their own beliefs and desires to fit in with their environments) (Heine,
Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999; Morling, Kitayama, & Miyamoto, 2002;
Weisz, Rothbaum, & Blackburn, 1984). Markus and Kitayama (1991) argued that
these different models of self have important implications for how people in
Western and East Asian contexts feel.
1719
Cultural Similarities and Differences in Emotion:

Comparisons of North American and East Asian
Contexts
Indeed, a considerable body of empirical research suggests that these different
models of self shape various aspects of emotional functioning. Next I will
describe several ways in which culture shapes emotion, starting with emotional
response.
Peoples Physiological Responses to Emotional Events Are

Similar Across Cultures, but Culture Influences Peoples
Facial Expressive Behavior.
How does culture influence peoples responses to an emotional event? Studies
of emotional responding tend to focus on three facets of emotional response:
physiology (e.g., how fast ones heart beats), subjective experience (e.g., whether
one feels intensely happy), and facial expressive behavior (e.g., whether one
smiles). Although only a few studies have simultaneously measured these
different aspects of emotional responding, those that do tend to observe more
cultural similarities than differences in physiological responding. For instance,
in one study, European American and Hmong American participants were asked
to relive different emotional episodes in their lives (e.g., when they lost
something or someone that they loved; when something good happened) (Tsai,
Chentsova-Dutton, Freire-Bebeau, & Przymus, 2002). At the level of
physiological arousal, there were no differences in how European Americans
and Hmong Americans responded. At the level of facial expressive behavior,
however, there were more differences. When reliving events that elicited
happiness, pride, and love, European Americans smiled more frequently and
1720
more intensely than did their Hmong counterparts, even though they reported
feeling happy, proud, and in love at similar levels of intensity. Similar patterns
have emerged in studies comparing European Americans with Chinese
Americans during different emotion-eliciting tasks (Tsai et al., 2002; Tsai,
Levenson, & McCoy, 2006; Tsai, Levenson, & Carstensen, 2000). Thus, while the
physiological aspects of emotional responding appear to be more similar across
cultures, the facial expressive aspects of emotional responding appear to be
more different across cultures.
These differences in facial expression during positive events are consistent
with findings from cross-cultural studies of display rules, and stem from the
models of self described above. In North American contexts that promote an
independent self, individuals must express their emotions in order to influence
others. In contrast, in East Asian contexts that promote an interdependent self,
individuals must control and suppress their emotions in order to adjust to
others.
People Suppress Their Emotions Across Cultures, but

Culture Influences the Consequences of Suppression for
Psychological Well-Being.
If the cultural ideal in North American contexts is to express oneself, then
suppressing emotions (not showing how one feels) should have negative
consequences in North American contexts. This is the assumption underlying
hydraulic models of emotion, in which emotional suppression and repression
are thought to impair psychological functioning (Freud, 1910). Indeed,
significant empirical work has found suppression to have negative
consequences for psychological well-being in North American contexts (Gross,
1998). However, Soto and colleagues find that the relationship between
suppression and psychological well-being varies by culture. Whereas for
1721
European Americans, suppression is associated with higher levels of depression

and lower levels of life satisfaction, for Hong Kong Chinese, for whom
suppression is needed in order to adjust to others, suppression is not associated
with depression or life satisfaction (Soto, Perez, Kim, Lee, & Minnick, 2011).
These findings are consistent with research suggesting that emotional
correlates of depression vary between North American and Asian American
samples. North American individuals diagnosed with major depression show
dampened or muted emotional responses (Bylsma, Morris, & Rottenberg,
2008). For instance, in response to sad and amusing film clips, depressed North
Americans respond less intensely compared with their nondepressed
counterparts. However, studies by Chentsova-Dutton and colleagues show that
depressed East Asian Americans (i.e., people of East Asian descent who live in
the United States) demonstrate similar or increased emotional responding
compared with their nondepressed counterparts (Chentsova-Dutton, Chu, Tsai,
Rottenberg, Gross, & Gotlib, 2007; Chentsova-Dutton, Tsai, & Gotlib, 2010). In
other words, in East Asian American samples, individuals diagnosed with major
depression did not show dampened emotional responses. Thus, whereas
muted responses (which resemble suppression, at least in appearance) are
associated with depression in European American contexts, they are not
associated with depression in East Asian contexts.
People Feel Good During Positive Events, but Culture

Influences Whether People Feel Bad During Positive
Events
What about peoples subjective emotional experiences? Do people across
cultures experience the same emotions in similar situations? Recent studies
suggest that culture influences whether people are likely to feel bad during
good events. In North American contexts, people rarely feel bad after
1722
experiencing something good. However, a number of research teams have

observed that compared with people in North American contexts, people in
East Asian contexts are more likely to feel bad and good (or feel mixed
emotions) during positive events (e.g., feel worried after winning an important
competition) (e.g., Miyamoto, Uchida, & Ellsworth, 2010). This may be because,
compared with North American contexts, East Asian contexts engage in more
dialectical thinking (tolerate contradiction and change); therefore, they believe
that positive and negative feelings can occur simultaneously. In addition,
whereas North American contexts value maximizing positive states and
minimizing negative ones, East Asian contexts value a greater balance between
positive and negative states (Sims, Tsai, Wang, Fung, & Zhang, 2013).
Again, these differences can be linked to cultural differences in models of
the self. An interdependent model encourages people to think about how their
accomplishments might affect others (e.g., make others feel bad or jealous).
Thus, experiencing negative emotions during positive events may prevent
people from expressing their excitement and standing out too much as well as
keep individuals in sync with the people around them. An independent model
encourages people to express themselves and stand out, so when something
good happens, there is no reason to feel bad.
So far, I have reviewed work that demonstrates cultural similarities in
physiological response and in the ability to suppress emotion, but cultural
differences in facial expressive behavior and the likelihood of experiencing
negative states during positive events. Next, I discuss how culture shapes
peoples ideal or desired states.
1723
People Want to Feel Good Across Cultures, but Culture

Influences the Specific Good States People Want to Feel
(Their Ideal Affect).
Everyone wants to feel positively, but cultures vary in the specific types of
positive affective states (see Figure 2) that people want to feel. Whereas people
in North American contexts want to feel excited, enthusiastic, energetic, and
other high arousal positive states more than people in East Asian contexts,
people in East Asian contexts want to feel calm, peaceful, and other low arousal
positive states more than people in North American contexts (Tsai, Knutson,
& Fung, 2006). These cultural differences have been observed in young children
between the ages of 3 and 5, college students, and adults between the ages of
60 and 80 (Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007; Tsai, Sims, Thomas, & Fung, 2013),
and are reflected in widely distributed cultural products. Wherever you look in
American contextswomens magazines, childrens storybooks, company
websites, and even Facebook profiles (Figure 3)you will find more open excited
smiles ( la Julia Roberts) and fewer closed calm smiles ( la Buddha) than in
Chinese contexts (Chim, Moon, Ang, Tsai, 2013; Tsai, 2007; Tsai, Louie, et al.,
2007).
1724
Figure 2: Adapted from Feldman, Barrett, and Russell (1999); Larsen and Diener ((1992); Russell
(1991); Thayer (1989); Watson and Tellegen (1985)
1725
Figure 3: Sample Hong Kong Chinese (left) and European American (right) Facebook pages.
Again, these differences in ideal affect are related to the independent and
interdependent selves described above. Independent selves want to influence
others. Influencing others requires action (or doing something), and action
involves high arousal states. In contrast, interdependent selves want to adjust
to others. Adjusting to others requires suspending action and attending to
others, which both involve low arousal states. Thus, the more that individuals
and cultures want to influence others (as they do in North American contexts),
the more they value excitement, enthusiasm, and other high arousal positive
states, and the more that individuals and cultures want to adjust to others (as
they do in East Asian contexts), the more they value calm, peacefulness, and
other low arousal positive states (Tsai, Miao, Seppala, Fung, & Yeung, 2007).
Because ideal affect functions as a guide for behavior and as a way of
evaluating ones emotional states, cultural differences in ideal affect can result
in different emotional lives. For example, in several studies, we have observed
that people engage in activities (e.g., choose recreational activities, listen to
music) that are consistent with their ideal affect, and therefore, cultural
1726
differences in leisure activities (e.g., whether people prefer to skydive or relax

on a beach) may be due to cultural differences in ideal affect (Tsai, 2007). In
addition, people base their conceptions of well-being and happiness on their
ideal affect. For example, European Americans are more likely to define wellbeing in terms of feeling excited and other high arousal positive states, whereas
Hong Kong Chinese are more likely to define well-being in terms of feeling calm
and other low arousal positive states. Indeed, among European Americans, the
less people are able to experience the high arousal positive states the value,
the more depressed they are, whereas among Hong Kong Chinese, the less
people are able to experience the low arousal positive states they value, the
more depressed they are (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006).
People Base Their Happiness on Similar Factors Across

Cultures, but Culture Influences the Weight Placed on
Each Factor
What factors make people happy or satisfied with their lives? I have already
reviewed findings suggesting that suppression and discrepancies between how
people actually feel and how they ideally want to feel are associated with
depression. But happiness is based on other factors as well. For instance, Kwan
and her colleagues found that while European Americans and Hong Kong
Chinese samples both based their life satisfaction on how they felt about
themselves (self-esteem) and how their relationships were doing (relationship
harmony), European Americans based their life satisfaction more on selfesteem than relationship harmony, whereas Hong Kong Chinese based their
life satisfaction equally on both (Kwan, Bond, & Singelis, 1997). Consistent with
these findings, Oishi and colleagues found in a study of 39 nations that selfesteem was more strongly correlated with life satisfaction in more individualistic
nations than in more collectivistic ones (Oishi, Diener, Lucas, & Suh, 1999). With
1727
respect to emotions, Suh and colleagues found that in individualistic cultures,

peoples life satisfaction was based on their emotions more than on norms for
life satisfaction (i.e., how satisfied with ones life an ideal person should be),
whereas in collectivistic cultures, peoples life satisfaction was based on both
emotions and norms (Suh, Diener, Oishi, & Triandis, 1998). Similarly, Curhan
and colleagues have recently found that feeling negative is more strongly
associated with poor mental and physical health in American than in Japanese
contexts (Curhan et al., 2013).
Again, these findings are consistent with cultural differences in models of
the self. In North American contexts with independent selves, feelings about
the self matter more, whereas in East Asian contexts with interdependent
selves, feelings about the self matter as much as or even less than feelings
about others.
Why Do Cultural Similarities And Differences In Emotion

Matter?
Uncovering cultural similarities and differences in emotion is obviously critical
to the understanding of emotions in general, and the malleability of emotional
processes more specifically. Given the central role that emotion plays in
communication, understanding cultural similarities and differences in emotion
is also critical to preventing miscommunications and misunderstandings that
may have unintended but detrimental consequences for certain ethnic groups
in the United States. For instance, across a variety of North American settings,
Asian Americans are often characterized as too quiet and reserved, and these
low arousal states are often misinterpreted in North American contexts as
expressions of disengagement rather than of the East Asian ideal of calm.
Consequently, Asian Americans may be perceived as cold, stoic, and
inscrutable, contributing to stereotypes of Asian Americans as perpetual
foreigners (Cheryan & Monin, 2005). Indeed, this may be one reason Asian
1728
Americans are often overlooked for top leadership positions (Hyun, 2005).
In addition to averting cultural misunderstandings, understanding cultural
similarities and differences in emotion may teach individuals about other paths
to psychological health and well-being. For instance, findings from a recent
series of studies suggests that calm states are easier to elicit than excitement
states, suggesting that one way of increasing happiness in cultures that value
excitement may be to increase the value placed on calm states (Chim, Tsai,
Hogan, & Fung, 2013).
Current Directions In Culture And Emotion Research

What About Other Cultures?
In this brief review, I focused primarily on comparisons between North American
and East Asian contexts because most work in cultural psychology and culture
and emotion has focused on these comparisons. However, there are obviously
a multitude of other cultural contexts in which differences in emotion likely
exist. For example, although Western contexts are similar in many ways, specific
Western contexts (e.g., American vs. German) also differ from each other in
substantive ways related to emotion (Koopmann-Holm & Matsumoto, 2011).
Thus, future research examining other cultural contexts is needed. These
studies may also reveal other dimensions or models that have broad
implications for emotion. In addition, because more and more people are being
raised with multiple cultures (e.g., for many Chinese Americans, Chinese
immigrant culture at home, mainstream American culture at school), more work
is needed to examine how people negotiate and integrate these different
cultures in their emotional lives (for examples, see De Leersnyder, Mesquita, &
Kim, 2011; Perunovic, Heller, & Rafaeli, 2007).
1729
How Are Cultural Differences in Beliefs About Emotion

Transmitted?
According to Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952), cultural ideas are reflected in and
reinforced by practices, institutions, and products. To illustrate this point in the
context of cultural differences in ideal affect, we demonstrated that bestselling
childrens storybooks in the United States contained more exciting and less calm
content (smiles and activities) than did bestselling childrens storybooks in
Taiwan (Tsai, Louie, et al., 2007). We then randomly assigned European
American, Asian American, and Taiwanese Chinese preschoolers to read either
stories with exciting content or stories with calm content. Across cultures, the
kids who read the stories with exciting content were more likely to value excited
states, whereas those who read the stories with calm content were more likely
to value calm states. These findings suggest that immediate exposure to
storybook content altered childrens ideal affect. More studies are needed to
assess whether a similar process occurs when children and adults are
chronically exposed to these types of cultural products and to examine other
ways in which cultural ideas regarding emotion are transmitted (e.g., via
interactions with parents and teachers).
Could
These
Cultural
Differences
Be
Due
to
Temperament?
An alternative explanation for the cultural differences in emotion described
above is that the group differences are due to temperamental factors; that is,
biological predispositions to respond in a certain way. Could it be that European
Americans are just more emotional than East Asians because of their genetic
differences? Indeed, most models of emotion acknowledge that temperament
and culture both play roles in emotional life, and yet few if any models indicate
1730
how. Although there may be genetic differences in founder populations

(migrants from a population who leave to create their own societies), we believe
that differences in emotion described above are primarily due to cultural
factors. For instance, in our theoretical framework, Affect Valuation Theory, we
propose that cultural factors shape how people ideally want to feel (their ideal
affect) more than how they actually feel (their actual affect), whereas
temperamental factors shape actual more than ideal affect (Tsai, 2007) (see
Figure 4). To test this hypothesis, European American, Asian American, and
Hong Kong Chinese participants completed measures of temperament
(neuroticism, extraversion), actual affect (which have been strongly associated
with temperament), ideal affect, and influence and adjustment cultural values.
The differences in ideal affect (described above) emerged after controlling for
differences in temperament and actual affect, suggesting that they were not
due to temperamental factors (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006). Moreover, whereas
temperamental factors were more strongly associated with actual affect than
ideal affect, cultural factors were more strongly associated with ideal affect than
actual affect. Not all of the studies described above have ruled out a
temperamental explanation, however, and therefore, more studies are needed
to rule out the possibility that the observed group differences are due to genetic
factors instead of or in addition to cultural factors. In addition, future studies
should examine whether the links between temperament and various aspects
of emotional functioning might vary across cultures, and how cultural and
temperamental factors interact to shape emotion.
1731
Figure 4: Affect valuation theory. Darker lines indicate stronger predicted relationships.
Summary
Based on studies comparing North American and East Asian cultural contexts,
there is clear evidence for both cultural similarities and differences in emotional
functioning, and most of the differences can be traced to different cultural
models of the self. Future research is needed to reveal the myriad other ways
in which culture shapes peoples emotional lives.
1732
Outside Resources
Audio Interview: The Really Big Questions What Are Emotions? Interview
with Paul Ekman, Martha Nussbaum, Dominique Moisi, and William Reddy
http://www.trbq.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=
blog&id=16&Itemid=43
Book: Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener: Happiness: Unlocking the
Mysteries of Psychological Wealth
Book: Eric Weiner: The Geography of Bliss
Book: Eva Hoffmann: Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language
Book: Hazel Markus: Clash: 8 Cultural Conflicts That Make Us Who We Are
Video: Social Psychology Alive

http://psychology.stanford.edu/~tsailab/PDF/socpsychalive.wmv
Video: The Really Big Questions Culture and Emotion, Dr. Jeanne Tsai
http://youtu.be/RQaEaUwNoiw
Video: Tsais description of cultural differences in emotion

http://youtu.be/T46EZ8LH8Ss
Web: Acculturation and Culture Collaborative at Leuven
http://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/cscp/acc-research
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http://culturecognition.isr.umich.edu/
Web: Experts In Emotion Series, Dr. June Gruber, Department of Psychology,
Yale University
http://www.yalepeplab.com/teaching/psych131_summer2013/expertseries.php
Web: Georgetown Culture and Emotion Lab
http://georgetownculturelab.wordpress.com/
Web: Paul Ekmans website
http://www.paulekman.com
Web: Penn State Culture, Health, and Emotion Lab
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/m/r/mrm280/sotosite/
Web: Stanford Culture and Emotion Lab
http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~tsailab/index.htm
Web: Wesleyan Culture and Emotion Lab
http://culture-and-emotion.research.wesleyan.edu/
1. What cultural ideas and practices related to emotion were you exposed to
when you were a child? What cultural ideas and practices related to emotion
are you currently exposed to as an adult? How do you think they shape your
emotional experiences and expressions?
2. How can researchers avoid inserting their own beliefs about emotion in
their research?
3. Most of the studies described above are based on self-report measures.
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using self-report
measures to understand the cultural shaping of emotion? How might the
use of other behavioral methods (e.g., neuroimaging) address some of these
limitations?
4. Do the empirical findings described above change your beliefs about
emotion? How?
5. Imagine you are a manager of a large American company that is beginning
to do work in China and Japan. How will you apply your current knowledge
about culture and emotion to prevent misunderstandings between you and
your Chinese and Japanese employees?
Vocabulary
Affect
Feelings that can be described in terms of two dimensions, the dimensions of
arousal and valence (Figure 3). For example, high arousal positive states refer
to excitement, elation, and enthusiasm. Low arousal positive states refer to
calm, peacefulness, and relaxation. Whereas actual affect refers to the states
that people actually feel, ideal affect refers to the states that people ideally
want to feel.
Culture
Shared, socially transmitted ideas (e.g., values, beliefs, attitudes) that are
reflected in and reinforced by institutions, products, and rituals.
Emotions
Changes in subjective experience, physiological responding, and behavior in
response to a meaningful event. Emotions tend to occur on the order of seconds
(in contract to moods which may last for days).
Feelings
A general term used to describe a wide range of states that include emotions,
moods, traits and that typically involve changes in subjective experience,
physiological responding, and behavior in response to a meaningful event.
Emotions typically occur on the order of seconds, whereas moods may last for
days, and traits are tendencies to respond a certain way across various
situations.
Independent self
A model or view of the self as distinct from others and as stable across different
situations. The goal of the independent self is to express and assert the self,
and to influence others. This model of self is prevalent in many individualistic,
Western contexts (e.g., the United States, Australia, Western Europe).
Interdependent self
A model or view of the self as connected to others and as changing in response
to different situations. The goal of the interdependent self is to suppress
personal preferences and desires, and to adjust to others. This model of self is
prevalent in many collectivistic, East Asian contexts (e.g., China, Japan, Korea).
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Culture and Emotion by Jeanne Tsai is licensed
deed.en_US.
Knowledge Emotions:
Feelings that Foster
Learning, Exploring, and
Reflecting
Paul Silvia
University North Carolina, Greensboro
nobaproject.com
Abstract
When people think of emotions they usually think of the obvious ones, such as
happiness, fear, anger, and sadness. This chapter looks at the knowledge
emotions, a family of emotional states that foster learning, exploring, and
reflecting. Surprise, interest, confusion, and awe come from events that are
unexpected, complicated, and mentally challenging, and they motivate learning
in its broadest sense, be it learning over the course of seconds (finding the
source of a loud crash, as in surprise) or over a lifetime (engaging with hobbies,
pastimes, and intellectual pursuits, as in interest). The chapter reviews research
on each emotion, with an emphasis on causes, consequences, and individual
differences. As a group, the knowledge emotions motivate people to engage
with new and puzzling things rather than avoid them. Over time, engaging with
new things, ideas, and people broadens someones experiences and cultivates
expertise. The knowledge emotions thus dont gear up the body like fear, anger,
and happiness do, but they do gear up the minda critical task for humans,
who must learn essentially everything that they know.
Learning Objectives
Identify the four knowledge emotions.
Describe the patterns of appraisals that bring about these emotions.
Discuss how the knowledge emotions promote learning.
Apply the knowledge emotions to enhancing learning and education, and

to ones own life.
Introduction
What comes to mind when you think of emotions? Its probably the elation of
happiness, the despair of sadness, or the freak-out fright of fear. Emotions such
as happiness, anger, sadness, and fear are important emotions, but human
emotional experience is vastpeople are capable of experiencing a wide range
of feelings.
This chapter considers the knowledge emotions, a profoundly important
family of emotions associated with learning, exploring, and reflecting. The
family of knowledge emotions has four main members: surprise, interest,
confusion, and awe. These are considered knowledge emotions for two reasons.
First, the events that bring them about involve knowledge: These emotions
happen when something violates what people expected or believed. Second,
these emotions are fundamental to learning: Over time, they build useful
knowledge about the world.
Some Background About Emotions

Before jumping into the knowledge emotions, we should consider what
emotions do and when emotions happen. According to functionalist theories
of emotion, emotions help people manage important tasks (Keltner & Gross,
1999; Parrott, 2001). Fear, for example, mobilizes the body to fight or flee;
happiness rewards achieving goals and builds attachments to other people.
What do knowledge emotions do? As well see in detail later, they motivate
learning, viewed in its broadest sense, during times that the environment is
puzzling or erratic. Sometimes the learning is on a short time scale. Surprise,
for example, makes people stop what they are doing, pay attention to the
surprising thing, and evaluate whether it is dangerous (Simons, 1996). After a
couple seconds, people have learned what they needed to know and get back
to what they were doing. But sometimes the learning takes place over the
nobaproject.com - Knowledge Emotions: Feelings that Foster Learning, Exploring, and Reflecting
1748
lifespan. Interest, for example, motivates people to learn about things over
days, weeks, and years. Finding something interesting motivates for its own
sake learning and is probably the major engine of human competence (Izard,
1977; Silvia, 2006).
What causes emotions to happen in the first place? Although it usually feels
like something in the worlda good hug, a snake slithering across the driveway,
a hot-air balloon shaped like a question markcauses an emotion directly,
emotion theories contend that emotions come from how we think about what
is happening in the world, not what is literally happening. After all, if things in
the world directly caused emotions, everyone would always have the same
emotion in response to something. Appraisal theories (Ellsworth & Scherer,
2003; Lazarus, 1991) propose that each emotion is caused by a group of
appraisals, which are evaluations and judgments of what events in the world
mean for our goals and well-being: Is this relevant to me? Does it further or
hinder my goals? Can I deal with it or do something about it? Did someone do
it on purpose? Different emotions come from different answers to these
appraisal questions.
With that as a background, in the following sections well consider the nature,
causes, and effects of each knowledge emotion. Afterward, we will consider
some of their practical implications.
1749
Figure 1. The appraisal space of surprise, interest, and confusion.
Surprise
Nothing gets peoples attention like something startling. Surprise, a simple
emotion, hijacks a persons mind and body and focuses them on a source of
possible danger (Simons, 1996). When theres a loud, unexpected crash, people
stop, freeze, and orient to the source of the noise. Their minds are wiped clean
after something startling, people usually cant remember what they had been
1750
talking aboutand attention is focused on what just happened. By focusing all

the bodys resources on the unexpected event, surprise helps people respond
quickly (Simons, 1996).
Surprise has only one appraisal: A single expectedness check (Scherer,
2001) seems to be involved. When an event is high contrastit sticks out
against the background of what people expected to perceive or experience
people become surprised (Berlyne, 1960; Teigen & Keren, 2003). Figure 1 shows
this pattern visually: Surprise is high when unexpectedness is high.
Emotions are momentary states, but people vary in their propensity to
experience them. Just as some people experience happiness, anger, and fear
more readily, some people are much more easily surprised than others. At one
end, some people are hard to surprise; at the other end, people are startled by
minor noises, flashes, and changes. Like other individual differences in emotion,
extreme levels of surprise propensity can be dysfunctional. When people have
extreme surprise responses to mundane thingsknown as hyperstartling
(Simons, 1996) and hyperekplexia (Bakker, van Dijk, van den Maagdenberg, &
Tijssen, 2006)everyday tasks such as driving or swimming become dangerous.
Interest
People are curious creatures. Interestan emotion that motivates exploration
and learning (Silvia, 2012)is one of the most commonly experienced emotions
in everyday life (Izard, 1977). Humans must learn virtually everything they know,
from how to cook pasta to how the brain works, and interest is an engine of
this massive undertaking of learning across the lifespan.
The function of interest is to engage people with things that are new, odd,
or unfamiliar. Unfamiliar things can be scary or unsettling, which makes people
avoid them. But if people always avoided new things they would learn and
experience nothing. Its hard to imagine what life would be like if people werent
curious to try new things: We would never feel like watching a different movie,
1751
trying a different restaurant, or meeting new people. Interest is thus a

counterweight to anxietyby making unfamiliar things appealing, it motivates
people to experience and think about new things. As a result, interest is an
intrinsically motivated form of learning. When curious, people want to learn
something for its own sake, to know it for the simple pleasure of knowing it,
not for an external reward, such as learning to get money, impress a peer, or
receive the approval of a teacher or parent.
Figure 1 shows the two appraisals that create interest. Like surprise, interest
involves appraisals of novelty: Things that are unexpected, unfamiliar, novel,
and complex can evoke interest (Berlyne, 1960; Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Silvia,
2008). But unlike surprise, interest involves an additional appraisal of coping
potential. In appraisal theories, coping potential refers to peoples evaluations
of their ability to manage what is happening (Lazarus, 1991). When coping
potential is high, people feel capable of handling the challenge at hand. For
interest, this challenge is mental: Something odd and unexpected happened,
and people can either feel able to understand it or not. When people encounter
something that they appraise as both novel (high novelty and complexity) and
comprehensible (high coping potential), they will find it interesting (Silvia, 2005).
The primary effect of interest is exploration: People will explore and think
about the new and intriguing thing, be it an interesting object, person, or idea.
By stimulating people to reflect and learn, interest builds knowledge and, in the
long run, deep expertise. Consider, for example, the sometimes scary amount
of knowledge people have about their hobbies. People who find cars, video
games, high fashion, and soccer intrinsically interesting know an amazing
amount about their passionsit would be hard to learn so much so quickly if
people found it boring.
A huge amount of research shows that interest promotes learning that is
faster, deeper, better, and more enjoyable (Hidi, 2001; Silvia, 2006). When
people find material more interesting, they engage with it more deeply and
learn it more thoroughly. This is true for simple kinds of learningsentences
1752
and paragraphs are easier to remember when they are interesting (Sadoski,
2001; Schiefele, 1999)and for broader academic successpeople get better
grades and feel more intellectually engaged in classes they find interesting
(Krapp, 1999, 2002; Schiefele, Krapp, & Winteler, 1992).
Individual differences in interest are captured by trait curiosity(Kashdan,
2004; Kashdan et al., 2009). People low in curiosity prefer activities and ideas
that are tried and true and familiar; people high in curiosity, in contrast, prefer
things that are offbeat and new. Trait curiosity is a facet of openness to
experience, a broader trait that is one of the five major factors of personality
(McCrae, 1996; McCrae & Sutin, 2009). Not surprisingly, being high in openness
to experience involves exploring new things and findings quirky things
appealing. Research shows that curious, open people ask more questions in
class, own and read more books, eat a wider range of food, andnot
surprisingly, given their lifetime of engaging with new thingsare a bit higher
in intelligence (DeYoung, 2011; Kashdan & Silvia, 2009; Peters, 1978; Raine,
Reynolds, Venables, & Mednick, 2002).
Confusion
Sometimes the world is weird. Interest is a wonderful resource when people
encounter new and unfamiliar things, but those things arent always
comprehensible. Confusion happens when people are learning something that
is both unfamiliar and hard to understand. In the appraisal space shown in
Figure 1, confusion comes from appraising an event as high in novelty,
complexity, and unfamiliarity as well as appraising it as hard to comprehend
(Silvia, 2010, 2013).
Confusion, like interest, promotes thinking and learning. This isnt an obvious
ideaour intuitions would suggest that confusion makes people frustrated and
thus more likely to tune out and quit. But as odd as it sounds, making students
confused can help them learn better. In an approach to learning known as
1753
impasse-driven learning (VanLehn, Siler, Murray, Yamauchi, & Baggett, 2003),

making students confused motivates them to think through a problem instead
of passively sitting and listening to what a teacher is saying. By actively thinking
through the problem, students are learning actively and thus learning the
material more deeply. In one experiment, for example, students learned about
scientific research methods from two virtual reality tutors (DMello, Lehman,
Pekrun, & Graesser, in press). The tutors sometimes contradicted each other,
however, which made the students confused. Measures of simple learning
(memory for basic concepts) and deep learning (being able to transfer an idea
to a new area) showed that students who had to work through confusion
learned more deeplythey were better at correctly applying what they learned
to new problems.
In a study of facial expressions, Rozin and Cohen (2003) demonstrated what
all college teachers know: Its easy to spot confusion on someones face. When
people are confused, they usually furrow, scrunch, or lower their eyebrows and
purse or bite their lips (Craig, DMello, Witherspoon, & Graesser, 2008; Durso,
Geldbach, & Corballis, 2012). In a clever application of these findings,
researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) teaching and tutoring
systems that can detect expressions of confusion (Craig et al., 2008). When the
AI system detects confusion, it can ask questions and give hints that help the
student work through the problem.
Not much is known about individual differences related to confusion, but
differences in how much people know are important. In one research study,
people viewed short film clips from movies submitted to a local film festival
(Silvia & Berg, 2011). Some of the people were film experts, such as professors
and graduate students in media studies and film theory; others were novices,
such as the rest of us who simply watch movies for fun. The experts found the
clips much more interesting and much less confusing than the novices did. A
similar study discovered that experts in the arts found experimental visual art
more interesting and less confusing than novices did (Silvia, 2013).
1754
Awe
Awea state of fascination and wonderis the deepest and probably least
common of the knowledge emotions. When people are asked to describe
profound experiences, such as the experience of beauty or spiritual
transformation, awe is usually mentioned (Cohen, Gruber, & Keltner, 2010).
People are likely to report experiencing awe when they are alone, engaged with
art and music, or in nature (Shiota, Keltner, & Mossman, 2007).
Awe comes from two appraisals (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). First, people
appraise something as vast, as beyond the normal scope of their experience.
Thus, like the other knowledge emotions, awe involves appraising an event as
inconsistent with ones existing knowledge, but the degree of inconsistency is
huge, usually when people have never encountered something like the event
before (Bonner & Friedman, 2011). Second, people engage in accommodation,
which is changing their beliefsabout themselves, other people, or the world
in generalto fit in the new experience. When something is massive (in size,
scope, sound, creativity, or anything else) and when people change their beliefs
to accommodate it, theyll experience awe.
A mild, everyday form of awe is chills, sometimes known as shivers or thrills.
Chills involve getting goosebumps on the skin, especially the scalp, neck, back,
and arms, usually as a wave that starts at the head and moves downward. Chills
are part of strong awe experiences, but people often experience them in
response to everyday events, such as compelling music and movies (Maruskin,
Thrash, & Elliot, 2012; Nusbaum & Silvia, 2011). Music that evokes chills, for
example, tends to be loud, have a wide frequency range (such as both low and
high frequencies), and major dynamic shifts, such as a shift from quiet to loud
or a shift from few to many instruments (Huron & Margulis, 2010).
1755
Like the other knowledge emotions, awe motivates people to engage with
something outside the ordinary. Awe is thus a powerful educational tool. In
science education, it is common to motivate learning by inspiring wonder. One
example comes from a line of research on astronomy education, which seeks
to educate the public about astronomy by using awe-inspiring images of deep
space (Arcand, Watzke, Smith, & Smith, 2010). When people see beautiful and
striking color images of supernovas, black holes, and planetary nebulas, they
usually report feelings of awe and wonder. These feelings then motivate them
to learn about what they are seeing and their scientific importance (Smith et
al., 2011).
Regarding individual differences, some people experience awe much more
often than others. One study that developed a brief scale to measure awe
the items included statements such as I often feel awe and I feel wonder
almost every dayfound that people who often experience awe are much
higher in openness to experience (a trait associated with openness to new things
and a wide emotional range) and in extraversion (a trait associated with positive
emotionality) (Shiota, Keltner, & John, 2006). Similar findings appear for when
people are asked how often they experience awe in response to the arts
(Nusbaum & Silvia, in press). For example, people who say that they often feel
a sense of awe and wonder when listening to music are much higher in
openness to experience (Silvia & Nusbaum, 2011).
Implications of the Knowledge Emotions

Learning about the knowledge emotions expands our ideas about what
emotions are and what they do. Emotions clearly play important roles in
everyday challenges such as responding to threats and building relationships.
But emotions also aid in other, more intellectual challenges for humans.
Compared with other animals, we are born with little knowledge but have the
potential for enormous intelligence. Emotions such as surprise, interest,
1756
confusion, and awe first signal that something awry has happened that deserves
our attention. They then motivate us to engage with the new things that strain
our understanding of the world and how it works. Emotions surely aid fighting
and fleeing, but for most of the hours of most of our days, they mostly aid in
learning, exploring, and reflecting.
1757
Outside Resources
Video: A talk with Todd Kashdan, a well-known scholar in the field of curiosity
and positive psychology, centered on curiosity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPpVxZRqRc8
Video: More from Todd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UunaTEpWrME
Web: Aesthetics and Astronomy, a project that uses wonder and beauty to
foster knowledge about the science of space
http://astroart.cfa.harvard.edu/
Web: The Emotion Computing Group, an interdisciplinary team that studies
how to measure confusion and harness it for deeper learning, among other
intriguing things
https://sites.google.com/site/memphisemotivecomputing/Home
1. Research shows that people learn more quickly and deeply when they are
interested. Can you think of examples from your own life when you learned
from interest versus from extrinsic rewards (e.g., good grades, approval
from parents and peers)? Was learning more enjoyable or effective in one
case?
2. How would you redesign a psychology lecture to harness the power of the
knowledge emotions? How could you use interest, confusion, and awe to
grab students attention and motivate them to reflect and learn?
3. Psychology, like all the sciences, is fueled by wonder. For psychology, the
wonder is about human nature and behavior. What, to you, is the most
wondrous, amazing, and awe-inspiring idea or finding from the science of
psychology? Does reflecting on this amazing fact motivate you to want to
know more about it?
4. Many people only want to know something if it is practicalif it helps them

get a job, make friends, find a mate, or earn money. But emotions such as
interest and awe, by motivating learning for its own sake, often engage
people in things that seem frivolous, silly, or impractical. What does this say
about learning? Is some knowledge necessarily more valuable than other
kinds?
Vocabulary
Accommodation
Changing one's beliefs about the world and how it works in light of new
experience.
Appraisal structure
The set of appraisals that bring about an emotion.
Appraisal theories
Evaluations that relate what is happening in the environment to peoples values,
goals, and beliefs. Appraisal theories of emotion contend that emotions are
caused by patterns of appraisals, such as whether an event furthers or hinders
a goal and whether an event can be coped with.
Awe
An emotion associated with profound, moving experiences. Awe comes about
when people encounter an event that is vast (far from normal experience) but
that can be accommodated in existing knowledge.
Chills
A feeling of goosebumps, usually on the arms, scalp, and neck, that is often
experienced during moments of awe.
Confusion
An emotion associated with conflicting and contrary information, such as when
people appraise an event as unfamiliar and as hard to understand. Confusion
motivates people to work through the perplexing information and thus fosters
deeper learning.
Coping potential
People's beliefs about their ability to handle challenges.
Facial expressions
Part of the expressive component of emotions, facial expressions of emotion
communicate inner feelings to others.
Functionalist theories of emotion
Theories of emotion that emphasize the adaptive role of an emotion in handling
common problems throughout evolutionary history.
Impasse-driven learning
An approach to instruction that motivates active learning by having learners
work through perplexing barriers.
Interest
An emotion associated with curiosity and intrigue, interest motivates engaging
with new things and learning more about them. It is one of the earliest emotions
to develop and a resource for intrinsically motivated learning across the life
span.
Intrinsically motivated learning
Learning that is for its own sakesuch as learning motivated by curiosity and
wonderinstead of learning to gain rewards or social approval.
Knowledge emotions
A family of emotions associated with learning, reflecting, and exploring. These
emotions come about when unexpected and unfamiliar events happen in the
environment. Broadly speaking, they motivate people to explore unfamiliar
things, which builds knowledge and expertise over the long run.
Openness to experience
One of the five major factors of personality, this trait is associated with higher
curiosity, creativity, emotional breadth, and open-mindedness. People high in
openness to experience are more likely to experience interest and awe.
Surprise
An emotion rooted in expectancy violation that orients people toward the
unexpected event.
Trait curiosity
Stable individual-differences in how easily and how often people become
curious.
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Instruction, 21, 209249.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Knowledge Emotions: Feelings that Foster
Learning, Exploring, and Reflecting by Paul Silvia is licensed under the Creative Commons
Motives and Goals

Ayelet Fishbach & Maferima Tour-Tillery
University of Chicago, Northwestern University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the main theories and findings on goals
and motivation. We address the origins, manifestations, and types of goals, and
the various factors that influence motivation in goal pursuit. We further address
goal conflict and, specifically, the exercise of self-control in protecting long-term
goals from momentary temptations.
Learning Objectives
Define the basic terminology related to goals, motivation, self-regulation,

and self-control.
Describe the antecedent and consequences of goal activation.
Describe the factors that influence motivation in the course of goal pursuit.
Explain the processes underlying goal activation, self-regulation, and selfcontrol.
Give examples of goal activation effects, self-regulation processes, and selfcontrol processes.
Introduction
Whether your goal is to pass a course, eat healthily, or land on Mars, you need
a certain level of motivation to stay on course and achieve it. A goal is the
cognitive representation of a desired state (Fishbach & Ferguson 2007;
Kruglanski, 1996), whereas motivation refers to the psychological driving force
that enables action in the pursuit of that goal (Lewin, 1935). The desired end
state of a goal can be clearly defined (e.g., step on the surface of Mars), or more
abstract and representing a motivational state that is never fully completed (e.
g., eat healthily). Motivation can stem from the benefits associated with the
process of pursuing a goal (intrinsic motivation). For example, you might be
driven by the desire to have a fulfilling experience while working on your Mars
mission. Motivation can also come from the benefits associated with achieving
a goal such as fame and fortune (extrinsic motivation) (Deci & Ryan, 1985).
Social psychologists recognize that goal pursuit and motivation do not
depend solely on an individuals personality but rather are products of personal
characteristics and situational factors. Indeed, cues in a persons immediate
environmentincluding images, words, sounds, and the presence of other
peoplecan activate or prime a goal. This activation can be conscious, such
that the person is aware of environmental cues that made her want to pursue
a goal (i.e., why?) and the resulting goal-directed judgments and behaviors (i.
e., how?). However, this activation can also occur outside a persons awareness
and lead to nonconscious goal pursuit. In this case, the person is unaware of
why she is pursuing a goal or does not even realize that she is pursuing a goal.
In this chapter we review key aspects of goals and motivation. We first discuss
the origins and manifestation of goals. We then review factors that influence
individuals motivation in the course of pursuing a goal such as studying an 800page book for an exam (self-regulation). Finally, we discuss what motivates
individuals to keep following their goals when faced with other conflicting
desiresfor example, when a tempting opportunity to socialize on Facebook
nobaproject.com - Motives and Goals
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presents itself in the course of studying for an exam (self-control).
The Origins and Manifestation of Goals

Goal Adoption
What makes you commit to a goal? Commitment stems from a sense that your
goal is both valuable and attainable, such that you adopt goals that are highly
likely to bring positive outcomes (the value expectancy model) (Fishbein &
Ajzen, 1974; Liberman & Frster, 2008). This process of committing to a goal
can occur without much conscious deliberation. For example, people infer value
and attainability and become committed to a goal because they previously
engaged in behaviors consistent with that goal. Indeed, people often learn
about themselves in the same way they learn about other people: by observing
their own behaviors and drawing inferences about their own preferences. Thus,
after going through a kickboxing class, you might infer from your efforts that
you are indeed committed to staying physically fit (Fishbach, Zhang, & Koo,
2009).
Goal Priming
What makes people adhere to a goal in any given context? Cues in the immediate
environment (e.g., objects, images, words, and sounds) can influence the
pursuit of goals to which people are already committed (Bargh, 1990; Custers,
Aarts, Oikawa, & Elliot, 2009; Frster, Liberman, & Friedman, 2007). In memory,
goals are organized in associative networks, which connect each goal to
corresponding means (i.e., activities or objects that contribute to goal
attainment; Kruglanski et al., 2002). For example, the goal to stay physically fit
may be associated with several means, including the nearby gym, ones bicycle,
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or a training partner. Cues related to the goal or means will activate or prime
that goal pursuit. For example, the presence of ones training partner or the
word workout in a puzzle can activate the goal of staying physically fit and,
hence, increase a persons motivation to exercise. Soon after goal priming, the
motivation to act on a goal peaks, and then slowly declines after some delay,
as the person moves away from the prime or after she pursues the goal (Bargh,
Gollwitzer, Lee-Chai, Barndollar, & Trotschel, 2001).
Consequences of Goal Activation

The activation of a goal and accompanying increase in motivation can influence
many aspects of behavior and judgment, including how people perceive,
evaluate, and feel about the world around them. Indeed, motivational states
can alter something as fundamental as visual perception. Thus, Balcetis and
Dunning (2006) found research participants automatically identified an
ambiguous figure (e.g., I3) as a letter (B) or number (13) depending on whether
seeing a letter or a number lead to a positive outcome within the experimental
context.
Goals can also exert a strong influence on how people evaluate the objects
(and people) around them. When pursuing a goal such as quenching ones thirst,
people evaluate goal-relevant objects (e.g., a glass) more positively than objects
that are not relevant to the goal (e.g., pencil) and more positively than people
who are not pursuing the goal (Ferguson & Bargh, 2004). Finally, priming a goal
can lead to behaviors consistent with that goal without awareness of the source
of this motivation. For example, after seeing words related to achievement,
research participants automatically performed better on a subsequent
achievement test (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Srull & Wyer, 1979).
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This section reviewed the antecedents and consequences of goal-directed

behavior. In the next section, we discuss the processes that influence thoughts,
feelings, and effort investment in the course of goal pursuit.
Self-Regulation in Goal Pursuit

Self-regulation refers to the processes through which individuals alter their
perceptions, feelings, and actions in the course of pursuing a goal. In this section,
we review the main theories and findings on self-regulation.
From Deliberation to Implementation

Self-regulation involves two basic stages associated with two distinct mindsets:
deciding which of many potential goals to pursue at a given point in time
(deliberative phase) and planning specific actions related to the selected goal
(implemental phase). The deliberative phase elicits a mindset that fosters an
effective choice of goals by promoting open-mindedness and realism about
available options, but hinders action initiation. On the other hand, the
implemental phase corresponds to a mindset conducive to the effective
implementation of a goal through immediate action, but often leads to closedmindedness and unrealistically positive expectations about the chosen goal
(Gollwitzer, Heckhausen, & Steller, 1990; Kruglanski et al., 2000; Thaler & Shefrin,
1981).
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Regulation of Ought- and Ideals-Goals

In addition to two phases in goal pursuit, research also distinguishes between
two distinct self-regulatory orientations in pursuing a goal: prevention and
promotion. These orientations differ across individuals (chronic regulatory
focus) and situations (momentary regulatory focus, Higgins, 1997). A prevention
focus emphasizes safety, responsibility, and security needs, and views goals as
oughts. This self-regulatory focus leads to a vigilant strategy aimed at avoiding
losses (the presence of negatives) and approaching nonlosses (the absence of
negatives). On the other hand, a promotion focus views goals as ideals and
emphasizes hopes, accomplishments, and advancement needs, which leads to
the adoption of an eager strategy concerned with approaching gains (the
presence of positives) and avoiding nongains (the absence of positives).
Therefore, emphasizing potential losses will motivate individuals with a
prevention focus, whereas emphasizing potential gains will motivate individuals
with a promotion focus.
A Cybernetic Process of Self-Regulation

Self-regulation depends on feelings that arise from comparing actual progress
to expected progress. During goal pursuit, an individual calculates the
discrepancy between her current state (i.e., all goal-related action completed
so far) and her desired end state, and then directs action toward closing that
gap (Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960; Powers, 1973). In this cybernetic process
of self-regulation, a higher-than-expected rate of closing the discrepancy
creates a signal in the form of positive feelings, which makes individuals coast
or reduce their efforts on the focal goal and focus on other goals. By contrast,
a lower-than-expected rate of closing the gap elicits negative feelings, which
leads to greater effort investment on the focal goal (Carver & Scheier, 1998).
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Highlighting One Goal or Balancing Between Goals

Completed goal actions can also influence self-regulation through the meanings
people assign to these actions. Completed actions can signal commitment or
progress with respect to the goal (see dynamics of self-regulation framework;
Fishbach et al., 2009). Commitment results from the perceived value and
attainability of a goal, whereas progress describes an individuals perception of
reducing the discrepancy between her current and desired states in goal pursuit
(i.e., cybernetic process). When people interpret their previous actions as a sign
of commitment to a goal, they tend to highlight the pursuit of that goal by
prioritizing it and putting more effort into it. However, when people interpret
their previous actions as a sign of progress, they tend to balance between this
goal and other goals and put less effort into the focal goal. For example, when
buying a product on sale signals to you that you are committed to saving, you
will continue to behave in a financially responsible manner. However, when you
take the same action as evidence of progress toward the saving goal, it might
justify your desire to splurge on a subsequent purchase. Several factors can
influence the meanings people assign to previous goal actions. For example,
the more certain a person is about her commitment to a goal, the more likely
she is to infer progress rather than commitment from her actions (Koo &
Fishbach, 2008).
This section summarized the main drivers of self-regulation within the
pursuit of a single focal goal. In many cases, however, people may want to
pursue severaland often conflictinggoals at the same time. In the final
section of this chapter, we look at how individuals maintain their motivation
when faced with other pursuits that may be at odds with their main goal.
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Conflicting Goals and Self-Control

In the pursuit of your ordinary and extraordinary goals (e.g., stay physically or
financially healthy, land on Mars), you inevitably come across other goals (e.g.,
live a little, or a lot) that might get in the way of your lofty ambitions. In such
situations, you must exercise self-control to stay on course. Self-control is the
capacity to control impulses, emotions, desires, and actions in order to resist a
temptation (e.g., going on a shopping spree) and protect a valued goal (e.g.,
stay financially sound). As such, self-control is self-regulation in contexts
involving a clear trade-off between long-term interests (e.g., health, financial,
or Martian) and some form of immediate gratification (Fishbach & Converse,
2010; Rachlin, 2000; Read, Loewenstein, & Rabin, 1999; Thaler & Shefrin, 1981).
For example, whereas reading each page of a textbook requires self-regulation,
doing so while resisting the tempting sounds of friends socializing in the next
room requires self-control. This section reviews research specific to the
conflicting-goal contexts that call for self-control. Self-control is both a personal
characteristic that varies across individuals and a resource that diminishes after
it is utilized within the individual.
Self-Control as an Innate Ability

Mischel, Shoda, and Rodriguez (1989) identified enduring individual differences
in self-control and found that this chronic capacity to postpone immediate
gratification for the sake of future interests leads to greater cognitive and social
competence over the course of a lifetime. In a series of lab experiments,
preschoolers (4-year-olds) chose between getting a smaller treat available now
in front of them (e.g., one marshmallow) or waiting as long as 15 minutes to
get a better one (e.g., two marshmallows). Some children were better able to
exercise self-control than others, by resisting the temptation to take the
available treat and waiting for the better treat. Ten years later, these researchers
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found that children who were able to wait longer in the experiment performed
better academically and socially and had better psychological coping skills as
adolescents.
Self-Control as a Limited Resource

Beyond personal characteristics, the ability to exercise self-control can fluctuate
from one context to the next. In particular, previous exercise of self-control
drains individuals of the limited physiological and psychological resources
required to continue the pursuit of a goal. Ego-depletion refers to the
exhaustion of such resources following the completion of effortful self-control
tasks and reduces individuals capacity to exert more self-control subsequently
within the same domain or within a different goal context (Baumeister,
Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; Vohs & Heatherton, 2000). In the study by
Baumeister et al. (1998), research participants depleted after forcing
themselves to eat radishes instead of tempting chocolates were subsequently
less persistent at an unsolvable puzzle task than other participants who had
not had to resist cookies by exerting self-control.
A Prerequisite to Self-Control: Identification

Although factors such as resources and personal characteristics contribute to
the successful exercise of self-control, identifying the self-control conflict
inherent to a particular situation is an importantand often overlooked
prerequisite. Specifically, the successful pursuit of a goal in the face of
temptation requires that an individual first identifies that she is having impulses
that need to be controlled. However, individuals often fail to identify self-control
conflicts because many everyday temptations seem to have very minimal
negative consequences: One bowl of ice cream is unlikely to destroy a persons
health, but what about 200 bowls of ice cream over the course of a few months?
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People are more likely to identify a self-control conflict and exercise selfcontrol when they think of a choice as part of a broader pattern of repeated
behavior rather than as one isolated choice. Indeed, when considering broader
decision patterns, consistent temptations become more problematic for longterm interests (Rachlin, 2000; Read, Loewenstein, & Kalyanaraman, 1999).
Moreover, conflict identification is more likely if people see their current choices
as similar to their future choices, in a dynamic of highlighting.
Self-Control Processes: Counteracting Temptation

The protection of a valued goal involves several cognitive and behavioral
strategies ultimately aimed at counteracting the pull of temptations and
pushing oneself toward goal-related alternatives (Fishbach & Trope, 2007). One
such cognitive process involves decreasing the value of temptations but
increasing of the value of goal-consistent objects or actions. For example,
health-conscious individuals might evaluate a sugary treat as less appealing
than a fruit in order to direct their choice toward the latter. Other behavioral
strategies include precommitment to pursue goals and forgo temptation (e.g.,
leaving ones credit card at home before going to the mall), establishing rewards
for goals but penalties for temptations, or physically approaching goals and
distancing the self from temptations (e.g., pushing away a dessert plate). These
self-control processes benefit individuals long-term interest consciously or
without conscious awareness. Thus, at times, individuals automatically activate
goal-related thoughts in response to temptation and inhibit temptation-related
thoughts in the presence of goal cues (Fishbach, Friedman, & Kruglanski, 2003).
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Conclusion
In this chapter, we adopted a social-cognitive approach to review some of the
main theories and findings on goals and motivation. We described the principles
of goal priming and how goals influence perceptions, feelings, and actions. We
then summarized the principles of self-regulation, including phases,
orientations, and fluctuations in the course of goal pursuit. Finally, we discussed
key research on self-control, including the antecedents and processes involved
in overcoming temptation.
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1. What is the difference between goal and motivation?
2. What is the difference between self-regulation and self-control?
3. How do positive and negative feelings inform goal pursuit in a cybernetic
self-regulation process?
4. Describe the characteristics of the deliberative mindset that allows
individuals to decide between different goals. How might these
characteristics hinder the implemental phase of self-regulation?
5. You just read a chapter on Goals and Motivation, and you believe it is a
sign of commitment to the goal of learning about social psychology. Define
commitment in this context. How would interpreting your efforts as a sign
of commitment influence your motivation to read more about social
psychology? By contrast, how would interpreting your efforts as a sign of
progress influence your motivation to read more?
6. Mel and Alex are friends. Mel has a prevention focus self-regulatory
orientation, whereas Alex has a promotion focus. They are both training for
a marathon and are looking for motivational posters to hang in their
respective apartments. While shopping, they find a poster with the following
Confucius quote: The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach
your full potential ... . These are the keys that will unlock the door to personal
excellence. Who is this poster more likely to help stay motivated for the
marathon (Mel or Alex)? Why? Find or write a quote that might help the
other friend.
7. Give an example in which an individual fails to exercise self-control. What

are some factors that can cause such a self-control failure?
Vocabulary
Balancing between goals
Shifting between a focal goal and other goals or temptations by putting less
effort into the focal goalusually with the intention of coming back to the focal
goal at a later point in time.
Commitment
The sense that a goal is both valuable and attainable
Conscious goal activation

When a person is fully aware of contextual influences and resulting goaldirected behavior.
Deliberative phase
The first of the two basic stages of self-regulation in which individuals decide
which of many potential goals to pursue at a given point in time.
Ego-depletion
The exhaustion of physiological and/or psychological resources following the
completion of effortful self-control tasks, which subsequently leads to reduction
in the capacity to exert more self-control.
Extrinsic motivation
Motivation stemming from the benefits associated with achieving a goal such
as obtaining a monetary reward.
Goal
The cognitive representation of a desired state (outcome).
Goal priming
The activation of a goal following exposure to cues in the immediate
environment related to the goal or its corresponding means (e.g., images,
words, sounds).
Highlighting a goal
Prioritizing a focal goal over other goals or temptations by putting more effort
into the focal goal.
Implemental phase
The second of the two basic stages of self-regulation in which individuals plan
specific actions related to their selected goal.
Intrinsic motivation
Motivation stemming from the benefits associated with the process of pursuing
a goal such as having a fulfilling experience.
Means
Activities or objects that contribute to goal attainment.
Motivation
The psychological driving force that enables action in the course of goal pursuit.
Nonconscious goal activation
When activation occurs outside a persons awareness, such that the person is
unaware of the reasons behind her goal-directed thoughts and behaviors.
Prevention focus
One of two self-regulatory orientations emphasizing safety, responsibility, and
security needs, and viewing goals as oughts. This self-regulatory focus seeks
to avoid losses (the presence of negatives) and approach non-losses (the
absence of negatives).
Progress
The perception of reducing the discrepancy between ones current state and
ones desired state in goal pursuit.
Promotion focus
One of two self-regulatory orientations emphasizing hopes, accomplishments,
and advancement needs, and viewing goals as ideals. This self-regulatory
focus seeks to approach gains (the presence of positives) and avoid non-gains
(the absence of positives).
Self-control
The capacity to control impulses, emotions, desires, and actions in order to
resist a temptation and adhere to a valued goal.
Self-regulation
The processes through which individuals alter their emotions, desires, and
actions in the course of pursuing a goal.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Motives and Goals by Ayelet Fishbach and
Maferima Tour-Tillery is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Drive States
Sudeep Bhatia & George Loewenstein
Carnegie Mellon University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Our thoughts and behaviors are strongly influenced by affective experiences
known as drive states. These drive states motivate us to fulfill goals that are
beneficial to our survival and reproduction. This chapter provides an overview
of key drive states, including information about their neurobiology and their
psychological effects.
Learning Objectives
Identify the key properties of drive states.
Describe biological goals accomplished by drive states.
Give examples of drive states.
Outline the neurobiological basis of drive states such as hunger and arousal.
Discuss the main moderators and determinants of drive states such as

hunger and arousal.
Introduction
What is the longest youve gone without eating? A couple of hours? An entire
day? How did it feel? Humans rely critically on food for nutrition and energy,
and the absence of food can create drastic changes not only in physical
appearance, but in thoughts and behaviors. If you fasted for a day, you probably
noticed how hunger can take over your mind: Direct your attention to the foods
that you could be eating (a cheesy slice of pizza, or perhaps some sweet and
cold ice cream), and motivate you to obtain and consume these foods. And
once you have eaten and your hunger has satisfied, your thoughts and
behaviors return to normal.
Hunger is a drive state, an affective experience that motivates organisms
to fulfill goals that are generally beneficial to their survival and reproduction.
Like other drive states, such as thirst or sexual arousal, hunger has a profound
impact on the functioning of the mind. It affects psychological processes, such
as perception, attention, emotion, and motivation, and influences the behaviors
that these processes generate.
Key Properties of Drive States

Drive states differ from other affective or emotional states in terms of the
biological functions they accomplish. Whereas all affective states possess
valence and serve to motivate approach or avoidance behaviors (Zajonc, 1998),
drive states are unique in generating behaviors that result in specific benefits
for the body. For example, hunger directs individuals to eat foods that increase
blood sugar levels in the body, while thirst causes individuals to drink fluids that
increase water levels in the body.
nobaproject.com - Drive States
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Different drive states have different triggers. Most drive states respond to
both internal and external cues, but the mix of internal and external, and the
specific cues, differ between drives. Hunger, for example, depends on internal,
visceral signals as well as sensory signals such as the sight or smell of tasty
food. Different drive states also result in different cognitive and feeling states
and are associated with different behaviors. Yet despite these differences, there
are a number of properties common to all drive states.
Homeostasis
Humans, like all organisms, need to maintain a stable state in their various
physiological systems. For example, the excessive loss of body water results in
dehydration, a dangerous and potentially fatal state, but too much water can
be damaging as well: A moderate and stable level of body fluid is ideal. The
tendency of an organism to maintain this stability across all the different
physiological systems in the body is called homeostasis.
Homeostasis consists of two main ingredients. First, the state of the system
being regulated must be monitored and compared to an ideal level, or a set
point. Second, there need to be mechanisms for moving the system back to
this set point, that is, to restore homeostasis, when deviations from it are
detected.
Many homeostatic mechanisms, such as blood circulation and immune
responses, are automatic and nonconscious. Others, however, involve
deliberate action. Most drive states motivate action to restore homeostasis
using both a carrot and a stick. The stick is the bad feeling, such as hunger,
thirst, or the misery of cold or heat, that occurs when one departs from the set
point. The carrot is the pleasure derived from any activity that moves the system
back toward the set point. For example, when body temperature declines below
the set point, any activity that helps to restore homeostasis, such as putting
ones hand in warm water, feels pleasurable, and likewise, when the body
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temperature is above the set point, anything that cools it feels pleasurable.
The Narrowing of Attention

As drive states intensifies, they direct attention toward elements, activities, and
forms of consumption that satisfy the biological need associated with the drive.
Hunger, for example, draws attention toward food. Outcomes and objects that
are not related to satisfying hunger lose their value (Easterbrook, 1959). Indeed,
at a sufficient level of intensity, individuals will sacrifice almost any quantity of
goods that do not address the need signaled by the drive state. For example,
cocaine addicts, according to Gawin (1991:1581), report that virtually all
thoughts are focused on cocaine during binges; nourishment, sleep, money,
loved ones, responsibility, and survival lose all significance.
Drive states also produce a second form of attention narrowing: a collapsing
of time-perspective toward the present. While this form of attention-narrowing
is particularly pronounced for the outcomes and behaviors directly related to
the biological function being served by the drive state at hand, it applies to the
general concern for the future as well. Ariely and Loewenstein (2006), for
example, investigated the impact of sexual arousal on the thoughts and
behaviors of a sample of male undergraduates. These undergraduates were
lent laptop computers that they could bring back to their private residences,
where they answered a series of questions both in normal states and in states
of high sexual arousal. Ariely and Loewenstein found that being sexually
aroused made people extremely impatient for both sexual outcomes and for
outcomes in other domains, such as those involving money. In another study
Giordano et al. (2002) found that heroin addicts were more impatient with
respect to heroin when they were craving heroin than when they were not. More
surprisingly, they were also more impatient toward money (they valued delayed
money less) when they were actively craving heroin.
1800
Yet a third form of attention-narrowing involves thoughts and outcomes

related to the self versus others. Intense drive states tend to narrow ones focus
inwardly and to undermine altruism. People who are hungry, in pain, or craving
drugs tend to be selfish. Indeed, popular interrogation methods involve
depriving individuals of sleep, food, or water, so as to trigger intense drive states
leading the subject of the interrogation to divulge information that may betray
comrades, friends, and family (Biderman, 1960).
Two Illustrative Drive States

Thus far we have considered drive states abstractly. We have discussed the
ways in which they relate to other affective and motivational mechanisms, as
well as their main biological purpose and their general effects on thought and
behavior. Yet despite serving the same broader goals, different drive states are
often remarkably different in terms of their specific properties. To understand
some of these specific properties, we will explore two different drive states that
play a very important role in determining behavior, and in ensuring human
survival: hunger and sexual arousal.
Hunger
Hunger is a paradigmatic drive state that results in thoughts and behaviors
related to the consumption of food. Hunger is generally triggered by low glucose
levels in the blood (Rolls, 2000), and behaviors resulting from hunger aim to
restore homeostasis regarding glucose and its presence in the body. Various
other internal and external cues can also cause hunger. For example, the
chemical composition of the food training from the stomach serves as an
internal cue for the body to initiate the search for food (Greenberg, Smith, &
Gibbs, 1990). External cues include the time of day, estimated time until the
next feeding (hunger increases immediately prior to food consumption), and
1801
the sight, smell, taste, and even touch of food and food-related stimuli. Note
that while hunger is a generic feeling, it has nuances that can produce the eating
of specific foods that correct for nutritional imbalances, which we may not be
conscious of.
The hypothalamus plays a very important role in eating behavior. It is
responsible for synthesizing and secreting various hormones. The lateral
hypothalamus (LH) is concerned largely with hunger. Lesions of the LH can
eliminate all eating to the point where animals will starve to death unless kept
alive by force feeding (Anand & Brobeck, 1951). Additionally, artificially
stimulating the LH, using electrical currents, can generate eating behavior if
food is available (Andersson, 1951).
Activation of the LH cannot only increase the desirability of food but can
also reduce the desirability of nonfood-related items. Brendl, Markman, and
Messner (2003), for example, found that participants who were given a handful
of popcorn to trigger hunger not only had higher ratings of food products, but
also had lower ratings of nonfood products, compared with participants whose
appetites were not similarly primed.
Hunger is only part of the story of when and why we eat. An analogous
process, satiation, relates to the decline of hunger and the eventual termination
of eating behavior. In fact, hunger and satiation are two distinct processes,
controlled by different circuits in the brain and triggered by different cues.
Distinct from the LH, which plays an important role in hunger, the ventromedial
hypothalamus (VMH) plays an important role in satiety. While lesions of the
VMH can make an animal overeat to the point of obesity, the relationship
between the LH and the VMB is quite complicated. Rats with VMH lesions can
be quite finicky about their food (Teitelbaum, 1955).
Other brain areas, besides the LH and VMH, also play important roles in
eating behavior. The sensory cortices (visual, olfactory, and taste), for example,
are important in identifying food items. These areas provide informational value
and not hedonic evaluations. While many of their functions are roughly stable
1802
across different psychological states, other functions, such as the detection of

food-related stimuli, are enhanced when the organism is in a hungry drive state.
After identifying a food item, the brain also needs to determine its reward
value, which affects the organisms motivation to consume the food. The reward
value ascribed to a particular item is, not surprisingly, sensitive to the level of
hunger experienced by the organism. Neurons in the areas where reward values
are processed, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, fire more rapidly at the sight or
taste of food when the organism is hungry relative to if it is satiated.
Sexual Arousal
A second drive state, especially critical to reproduction, is sexual arousal. Sexual
arousal results in thoughts and behaviors related to sexual activity. As with
hunger, it is generated by a large range of internal and external mechanisms
that are triggered either after the extended absence of sexual activity or by the
immediate presence and possibility of sexual activity (or by cues commonly
associated with such possibilities). Unlike hunger, however, these mechanisms
can differ substantially between males and females, indicating important
evolutionary difference in the biological functions that sexual arousal serves
for different sexes.
Sexual arousal and pleasure in males, for example, is strongly related to the
preoptic area, a region in the anterior hypothalamus. If the preoptic area is
damaged, male sexual behavior is severely impaired. Interestingly, damage to
the preoptic area does not affect certain types of sexual motivations. For
example, rats that have had prior sexual experiences will still seek out sexual
partners after their preoptic area is lesioned. However, once having secured a
sexual partner, rats with lesioned preoptic areas will show no further inclination
to actually initiate sex.
1803
For female behavior, the ventromedial hypothalamus plays a similar role.

Neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus determine the excretion of
estradiol, an estrogen hormone that regulates sexual receptivity. In many
mammals, these neurons send impulses to the periaqueductal gray, a region
in the midbrain responsible for defensive behaviors (such as freezing
immobility, running, increases in blood pressure, and so on) and other motor
responses. During sexual arousal, these defensive responses are weakened
and lordosis behavior, a physical sexual posture that serves as an invitation to
mate, is initiated (Kow and Pfaff, 1998).
Other differences between males and females involve overlapping functions
of neural modules that often provide clues about biological roles played by
sexual arousal and sexual activity in males and females. Areas of the brain that
are important for male sexuality overlap to a great extent with areas that are
also associated with aggression. In contrast, areas important for female
sexuality overlap extensively with those that are also connected to nurturance
(Panksepp, 2004).
One region of the brain that seems to play an important role in sexual
pleasure, for both males and females, is the septal nucleus, an area receiving
reciprocal connections from many other brain regions, including the
hypothalamus and the amygdala. This region shows considerable activity, in
terms of rhythmic spiking, during sexual orgasm. It is also one of the brain
regions that rats will most reliably voluntarily self-stimulate (Olds & Milner,
1954). In humans, placing a small amount of acetylcholine in to this region, or
stimulating it electrically, has been reported to produce a feeling of imminent
orgasm (Heath, 1964).
1804
Conclusion
Drive states are evolved motivational mechanisms designed to ensure that
organisms take self-beneficial actions. In this chapter, we have reviewed key
properties of drive states, such as homeostasis and the narrowing of attention.
We have also discussed, in detail, two important drive stateshunger and
sexual arousaland explored their underlying neurobiology and the ways in
which various environmental and biological factors affect their properties.
There are many drive states, besides hunger and sexual arousal, which affect
humans on a daily basis. Fear, thirst, exhaustion, exploratory and maternal
drives, and drug cravings are all drive states that have been studied by
researchers (see e.g., Buck, 1999; Van Boven & Loewenstein, 2003). While these
drive states share the properties discussed in this chapter, each also has unique
features that allows it to effectively fulfill its evolutionary functions.
One key difference between drive states is the extent to which they are
triggered by internal as opposed to external stimuli. Thirst, for example, is
induced both by decreased fluid levels and an increased concentration of salt
in the body. Fear, on the other hand, is induced by perceived threats in the
external environment. Drug cravings are triggered both by internal homeostatic
mechanisms and by external visual, olfactory, and contextual cues. Other drive
states, such as those pertaining to maternity, are triggered by specific events
in the organisms life. Differences such as these make the study of drive states
a scientifically interesting and important endeavor. Drive states are rich in their
diversity, and many questions involving their neurocognitive underpinnings,
environmental determinants, and behavioral effects, have yet to be answered.
One final thing to consider, not discussed in this chapter, relates to the realworld consequences of drive states. Hunger, sexual arousal, and other drive
states are all psychological mechanisms that have evolved gradually over
millions of years. We share these drive states not only with our human ancestors
but with animals such as monkeys, dogs, and rats. It is not surprising then that
1805
these drive states, at times, lead us to behave in ways that are ill-suited to our
modern lives. Consider, for example, the obesity epidemic that is affecting
countries around the world. Like other diseases of affluence, obesity is a product
of drive states that are too easily fulfilled: homeostatic mechanisms that worked
well when food was scarce backfire when a meal rich in fat and sugar is readily
available. Unrestricted sexual arousal can have a similarly perverse effect on
our well-being. Countless politicians have sacrificed their entire lifes work (not
to mention their marriages) by satisfying adulterous sexual impulses toward
colleagues, staffers, prostitutes, and others over whom they have social or
financial power. It not an overstatement to say that many problems of the 21st
century, from school massacres to obesity to drug addiction, are influenced by
the mismatch between our drive states and our uniquely modern ability to fulfill
them at a moments notice.
1806
Outside Resources
Web: An open textbook chapter on homeostasis
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Human_Physiology/Homeostasis
Web: Motivation and emotion in psychology
http://allpsych.com/psychology101/motivation_emotion.html
Web: The science of sexual arousal
http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr03/arousal.aspx
1. The ability to maintain homeostasis is important for an organisms survival.
What are the ways in which homeostasis ensures survival? Do different drive
states accomplish homeostatic goals differently?
2. Drive states result in the narrowing of attention toward the present and
toward the self. Which drive states lead to the most pronounced narrowing
of attention toward the present? Which drive states lead to the most
pronounced narrowing of attention toward the self?
3. What are important differences between hunger and sexual arousal, and
in what ways do these differences reflect the biological needs that hunger
and sexual arousal have been evolved to address?
4. Some of the properties of sexual arousal vary across males and females.
What other drives states affect males and females differently? Are there
drive states that vary with other differences in humans (e.g., age)?
Vocabulary
Drive state
Affective experiences that motivate organisms to fulfill goals that are generally
beneficial to their survival and reproduction.
Homeostasis
The tendency of an organism to maintain a stable state across all the different
physiological systems in the body.
Homeostatic set point
An ideal level that the system being regulated must be monitored and compared
to.
Hypothalamus
A portion of the brain involved in a variety of functions, including the secretion
of various hormones and the regulation of hunger and sexual arousal.
Lordosis
A physical sexual posture in females that serves as an invitation to mate.
Preoptic area
A region in the anterior hypothalamus involved in generating and regulating
male sexual behavior.
Reward value
A neuropsychological measure of an outcomes affective importance to an
organism.
Reference List
Anand, B. K., & Brobeck, J. R. (1951). Hypothalamic control of food intake in rats
and cats. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 24(2), 123.
Andersson, B. (1951). The effect and localization of electrical stimulation of
certain parts of the brain stem in sheep and goats. Acta Physiologica
Scandinavica, 23(1), 823.
Ariely, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2006). The heat of the moment: The effect of sexual
arousal on sexual decision making. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making,
19(2), 8798
Biderman, A. D. (1960). Social-psychological needs and involuntary behavior
as illustrated by compliance in interrogation. Sociometry, 23(2), 120147.
Brendl, C. M., Markman, A. B., & Messner, C. (2003). The devaluation effect:
Activating a need devalues unrelated objects. Journal of Consumer
Research, 29(4), 463473.
Buck, R. (1999). The biological affects: A typology. Psychological Review, 106,
301336.
Easterbrook, J. A. (1959). The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the
organization of behavior. Psychological Review, 66(3).
Gawin, F. H. (1991). Cocaine addiction: psychology and neurophysiology.
Science, 251(5001), 15801586.
Giordano, L. A., Bickel, W. K., Loewenstein, G., Jacobs, E. A., Marsch, L., & Badger,
G. J. (2002). Mild opioid deprivation increases the degree that opioiddependent outpatients discount delayed heroin and money. Psychopharmacology,
163(2), 174182.
Greenberg, D., Smith, G. P., & Gibbs, J. (1990). Intraduodenal infusions of fats
elicit satiety in sham-feeding rats. American Journal of PhysiologyRegulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology, 259(1), 110118.
Heath, R. G. (1964). Pleasure response of human subjects to direct stimulation
of the brain: Physiologic and psychodynamic considerations. In R. G. Heath
(Ed.), The role of pleasure in behavior (pp. 219243). New York, NY: Hoeber.
Kow, L. M., & Pfaff, D. W. (1998). Mapping of neural and signal transduction
pathways for lordosis in the search for estrogen actions on the central
nervous system. Behavioural Brain Research, 92(2), 169180
Olds, J., & Milner, P. (1954). Positive reinforcement produced by electrical
stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain. Journal of
Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 47(6), 419.
Panksepp, J. (2004). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and
animal emotions (Vol. 4). New York, NY: Oxford University Press U.S.
Rolls, E. T. (2000). The orbitofrontal cortex and reward. Cerebral Cortex, 10(3),
284-294.
Teitelbaum, P. (1955). Sensory control of hypothalamic hyperphagia. Journal of
Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 48(3), 156.
Van Boven, L., & Loewenstein, G. (2003). Projection of transient drive states.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 11591168.

Zajonc, R. B. (1998). Emotions. In Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T., & Lindzey, G. (Eds.),
The handbook of social psychology (Vols. 1 and 2, 4th ed., pp. 591632).
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Drive States by Sudeep Bhatia and George
Loewenstein is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Topic 10
Psychological Disorders

Ingrid G. Farreras
Hood College
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first is a brief introduction to various
criteria we use to define or distinguish between normality and abnormality.
The second, largest part is a history of mental illness from the Stone Age to the
20th century, with a special emphasis on the recurrence of three causal
explanations for mental illnesssupernatural, somatogenic, and psychogenic
factors. This part briefly touches upon trephination, the Greek theory of hysteria
within the context of the four bodily humors, witch hunts, asylums, moral
treatment,
mesmerism,
catharsis,
the
mental
hygiene
movement,
deinstitutionalization, community mental health services, and managed care.

The third part concludes with a brief description of the issue of diagnosis.
Learning Objectives
Identify what the criteria used to distinguish normality from abnormality

are.
Understand the difference among the three main etiological theories of

mental illness.
Describe specific beliefs or events in history that exemplify each of these

etiological theories (e.g., hysteria, humorism, witch hunts, asylums, moral
treatments).
Explain the differences in treatment facilities for the mentally ill (e.g., mental
hospitals, asylums, community mental health centers).
Describe the features of the moral treatment approach used by Chiarughi,

Pinel, and Tuke.
Describe the reform efforts of Dix and Beers and the outcomes of their work.
Describe Krpelins classification of mental illness and the current DSM

system.

References to mental illness can be found throughout history. The evolution
of mental illness, however, has not been linear or progressive but rather cyclical.
Whether a behavior is considered normal or abnormal depends on the context
surrounding the behavior and thus changes as a function of a particular time
and culture. In the past, uncommon behavior or behavior that deviated from
the sociocultural norms and expectations of a specific culture and period has
been used as a way to silence or control certain individuals or groups. As a
result, a less cultural relativist view of abnormal behavior has focused instead
on whether behavior poses a threat to oneself or others or causes so much
pain and suffering that it interferes with ones work responsibilities or with ones
relationships with family and friends.
Throughout history there have been three general theories of the etiology
of mental illness: supernatural, somatogenic, and psychogenic. Supernatural
theories attribute mental illness to possession by evil or demonic spirits,
displeasure of gods, eclipses, planetary gravitation, curses, and sin.
Somatogenic theories identify disturbances in physical functioning resulting
from either illness, genetic inheritance, or brain damage or imbalance.
Psychogenic theories focus on traumatic or stressful experiences, maladaptive
learned associations and cognitions, or distorted perceptions. Etiological
theories of mental illness determine the care and treatment mentally ill
individuals receive. As we will see below, an individual believed to be possessed
by the devil will be viewed and treated differently from an individual believed
to be suffering from an excess of yellow bile. Their treatments will also differ,
from exorcism to blood-letting. The theories, however, remain the same. They
coexist as well as recycle over time.
nobaproject.com - History of Mental Illness
1818
Trephination is an example of the earliest supernatural explanation for

mental illness. Examination of prehistoric skulls and cave art from as early as
6500 BC has identified surgical drilling of holes in skulls to treat head injuries
and epilepsy as well as to allow evil spirits trapped within the skull to be released
(Restak, 2000). Around 2700 BC, Chinese medicines concept of complementary
positive and negative bodily forces (yin and yang) attributed mental (and
physical) illness to an imbalance between these forces. As such, a harmonious
life that allowed for the proper balance of yin and yang and movement of vital
air was essential (Tseng, 1973).
Mesopotamian and Egyptian papyri from 1900 BC describe women suffering
from mental illness resulting from a wandering uterus (later named hysteria
by the Greeks): The uterus could become dislodged and attached to parts of
the body like the liver or chest cavity, preventing their proper functioning or
producing varied and sometimes painful symptoms. As a result, the Egyptians,
and later the Greeks, also employed a somatogenic treatment of strong smelling
substances to guide the uterus back to its proper location (pleasant odors to
lure and unpleasant ones to dispel).
Throughout classical antiquity we see a return to supernatural theories of
demonic possession or godly displeasure to account for abnormal behavior
that was beyond the persons control. Temple attendance with religious healing
ceremonies and incantations to the gods were employed to assist in the healing
process. Hebrews saw madness as punishment from God, so treatment
consisted of confessing sins and repenting. Physicians were also believed to be
able to comfort and cure madness, however.
Greek physicians rejected supernatural explanations of mental disorders. It
was around 400 BC that Hippocrates (460370 BC) attempted to separate
superstition and religion from medicine by systematizing the belief that a
deficiency in or especially an excess of one of the four essential bodily fluids (i.
e., humors)blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegmwas responsible for
physical and mental illness. For example, someone who was too temperamental
1819
suffered from too much blood and thus blood-letting would be the necessary
treatment. Hippocrates classified mental illness into one of four categories
epilepsy, mania, melancholia, and brain feverand like other prominent
physicians and philosophers of his time, he did not believe mental illness was
shameful or that mentally ill individuals should be held accountable for their
behavior. Mentally ill individuals were cared for at home by family members
and the state shared no responsibility for their care. Humorism remained a
recurrent somatogenic theory up until the 19th century.
While Greek physician Galen (AD 130201) rejected the notion of a uterus
having an animistic soul, he agreed with the notion that an imbalance of the
four bodily fluids could cause mental illness. He also opened the door for
psychogenic explanations for mental illness, however, by allowing for the
experience of psychological stress as a potential cause of abnormality. Galens
psychogenic theories were ignored for centuries, however, as physicians
attributed mental illness to physical causes throughout most of the millennium.
By the late Middle Ages, economic and political turmoil threatened the
power of the Roman Catholic church. Between the 11th and 15th centuries,
supernatural theories of mental disorders again dominated Europe, fueled by
natural disasters like plagues and famines that lay people interpreted as
brought about by the devil. Superstition, astrology, and alchemy took hold, and
common treatments included prayer rites, relic touching, confessions, and
atonement. Beginning in the 13th century the mentally ill, especially women,
began to be persecuted as witches who were possessed. At the height of the
witch hunts during the 15th through 17th centuries, with the Protestant
Reformation having plunged Europe into religious strife, two Dominican monks
wrote the Malleus Maleficarum (1486) as the ultimate manual to guide witch
hunts. Johann Weyer and Reginald Scot tried to convince people in the mid- to
late-16th century that accused witches were actually women with mental
illnesses and that mental illness was not due to demonic possession but to
faulty metabolism and disease, but the Churchs Inquisition banned both of
1820
their writings. Witch-hunting did not decline until the 17th and 18th centuries,
after more than 100,000 presumed witches had been burned at the stake
(Schoeneman, 1977; Zilboorg & Henry, 1941).
Modern treatments of mental illness are most associated with the
establishment of hospitals and asylums beginning in the 16th century. Such
institutions mission was to house and confine the mentally ill, the poor, the
homeless, the unemployed, and the criminal. War and economic depression
produced vast numbers of undesirables and these were separated from society
and sent to these institutions. Two of the most well-known institutions, St. Mary
of Bethlehem in London, known as Bedlam, and the Hpital Gnral of Paris
which included La Salptrire, La Piti, and La Bictrebegan housing mentally
ill patients in the mid-16th and 17th centuries. As confinement laws focused
on protecting the public from the mentally ill, governments became responsible
for housing and feeding undesirables in exchange for their personal liberty.
Most inmates were institutionalized against their will, lived in filth and chained
to walls, and were commonly exhibited to the public for a fee. Mental illness
was nonetheless viewed somatogenically, so treatments were similar to those
for physical illnesses: purges, bleedings, and emetics.
While inhumane by todays standards, the view of insanity at the time likened
the mentally ill to animals (i.e., animalism) who did not have the capacity to
reason, could not control themselves, were capable of violence without
provocation, did not have the same physical sensitivity to pain or temperature,
and could live in miserable conditions without complaint. As such, instilling fear
was believed to be the best way to restore a disordered mind to reason.
By the 18th century, protests rose over the conditions under which the
mentally ill lived, and the 18th and 19th centuries saw the growth of a more
humanitarian view of mental illness. In 1785 Italian physician Vincenzo
Chiarughi (17591820) removed the chains of patients at his St. Boniface
hospital in Florence, Italy, and encouraged good hygiene and recreational and
occupational training. More well known, French physician Philippe Pinel (1745
1821
1826) and former patient Jean-Baptise Pussin created a traitement moral at

La Bictre and the Salptrire in 1793 and 1795 that also included unshackling
patients, moving them to well-aired, well-lit rooms, and encouraging purposeful
activity and freedom to move about the grounds (Micale, 1985).
In England, humanitarian reforms rose from religious concerns. William Tuke
(17321822) urged the Yorkshire Society of (Quaker) Friends to establish the
York Retreat in 1796, where patients were guests, not prisoners, and where the
standard of care depended on dignity and courtesy as well as the therapeutic
and moral value of physical work (Bell, 1980).
While America had asylums for the mentally illsuch as the Pennsylvania
Hospital in Philadelphia and the Williamsburg Hospital, established in 1756 and
1773the somatogenic theory of mental illness of the timepromoted
especially by the father of America psychiatry, Benjamin Rush (17451813)
had led to treatments such as blood-letting, gyrators, and tranquilizer chairs.
When Tukes York Retreat became the model for half of the new private asylums
established in the United States, however, psychogenic treatments such as
compassionate care and physical labor became the hallmarks of the new
American asylums, such as the Friends Asylum in Frankford, Pennsylvania, and
the Bloomingdale Asylum in New York City, established in 1817 and 1821 (Grob,
1994).
Moral treatment had to be abandoned in America in the second half of the
19th century, however, when these asylums became overcrowded and custodial
in nature and could no longer provide the space nor attention necessary. When
retired school teacher Dorothea Dix discovered the negligence that resulted
from such conditions, she advocated for the establishment of state hospitals.
Between 1840 and1880, she helped establish over 30 mental institutions in the
United States and Canada (Viney & Zorich, 1982). By the late 19th century, moral
treatment had given way to the mental hygiene movement, founded by former
patient Clifford Beers with the publication of his 1908 memoir A Mind That
Found Itself. Riding on Pasteurs breakthrough germ theory of the 1860s and
1822
1870s and especially on the early 20th century discoveries of vaccines for
cholera, syphilis, and typhus, the mental hygiene movement reverted to a
somatogenic theory of mental illness.
European psychiatry in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th
century,
however,
struggled
between
somatogenic
and
psychogenic
explanations of mental illness, particularly hysteria, which caused physical

symptoms such as blindness or paralysis with no apparent physiological
explanation. Franz Anton Mesmer (17341815), influenced by contemporary
discoveries in electricity, attributed hysterical symptoms to imbalances in a
universal magnetic fluid found in individuals, rather than to a wandering uterus
(Forrest, 1999). James Braid (17951860) shifted this belief in mesmerism to
one in hypnosis, thereby proposing a psychogenic treatment for the removal
of symptoms. At the time, famed Salpetriere Hospital neurologist Jean-Martin
Charcot (18251893), and Ambroise Auguste Libault (18231904) and
Hyppolyte Bernheim (18401919) of the Nancy School in France, were engaged
in a bitter etiological battle over hysteria, with Charcot maintaining that the
hypnotic suggestibility underlying hysteria was a neurological condition while
Libault and Bernheim believed it to be a general trait that varied in the
population. Josef Breuer (18421925) and Sigmund Freud (18561939) would
resolve this dispute in favor of a psychogenic explanation for mental illness by
treating hysteria through hypnosis, which eventually led to the cathartic
method that became the precursor for psychoanalysis during the first half of
the 20th century.
Psychoanalysis was the dominant psychogenic treatment for mental illness
during the first half of the 20th century, providing the launching pad for the
more than 400 different schools of psychotherapy found today (Magnavita,
2006). Most of these schools cluster around broader behavioral, cognitive,
cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and client-centered approaches to
psychotherapy applied in individual, marital, family, or group formats.
Negligible differences have been found among all these approaches, however;
1823
their efficacy in treating mental illness is due to factors shared among all of the
approaches (not particular elements specific to each approach): the therapistpatient alliance, the therapists allegiance to the therapy, therapist competence,
and placebo effects (Luborsky et al., 2002; Messer & Wampold, 2002).
In contrast, the leading somatogenic treatment for mental illness can be
found in the establishment of the first psychotropic medications in the mid-20th
century. Restraints, electro-convulsive shock therapy, and lobotomies
continued to be employed in American state institutions until the 1970s, but
they quickly made way for a burgeoning pharmaceutical industry that has
viewed and treated mental illness as a chemical imbalance in the brain.
Both etiological theories coexist today in what the psychological discipline
holds as the biopsychosocial model of explaining human behavior. While
individuals may be born with a genetic predisposition for a certain psychological
disorder, certain psychological stressors need to be present for them to develop
the disorder. Sociocultural factors such as sociopolitical or economic unrest,
poor living conditions, or problematic interpersonal relationships are also
viewed as contributing factors. However much we want to believe that we are
above the treatments described above, or that the present is always the most
enlightened time, let us not forget that our thinking today continues to reflect
the same underlying somatogenic and psychogenic theories of mental illness
discussed throughout this cursory 9,000-year history.
Diagnosis of Mental Illness

Progress in the treatment of mental illness necessarily implies improvements
in the diagnosis of mental illness. A standardized diagnostic classification
system with agreed-upon definitions of psychological disorders creates a
shared language among mental-health providers and aids in clinical research.
While diagnoses were recognized as far back as the Greeks, it was not until 1883
that German psychiatrist Emil Krpelin (18561926) published a comprehensive
1824
system of psychological disorders that centered around a pattern of symptoms

(i.e., syndrome) suggestive of an underlying physiological cause. Other
clinicians also suggested popular classification systems but the need for a single,
shared system paved the way for the American Psychiatric Associations 1952
publication of the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
The DSM has undergone various revisions (in 1968, 1980, 1987, 1994, 2000),
and it is the 1980 DSM-III version that began a multiaxial classification system
that took into account the entire individual rather than just the specific problem
behavior. Axes I and II contain the clinical diagnoses, including mental
retardation and personality disorders. Axes III and IV list any relevant medical
conditions or psychosocial or environmental stressors, respectively. Axis V
provides a global assessment of the individuals level of functioning.
While the DSM has provided a necessary shared language for clinicians,
aided in clinical research, and allowed clinicians to be reimbursed by insurance
companies for their services, it is not without criticism. The DSM is based on
clinical and research findings from Western culture, primarily the United States.
It is also a medicalized categorical classification system that assumes disordered
behavior does not differ in degree but in kind, as opposed to a dimensional
classification system that would plot disordered behavior along a continuum.
Finally, the number of diagnosable disorders has tripled since it was first
published in 1952, so that almost half of Americans will have a diagnosable
disorder in their lifetime, contributing to the continued concern of labeling and
stigmatizing mentally ill individuals. The DSM-5 version that is to be released
in May 2013 is not expected to address these concerns.
1825
Outside Resources
Web: Images from the History of Medicine. Search "mental illness"
http://ihm.nlm.nih.gov/luna/servlet/view/all
Web: Science Museum Brought to Life
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/menalhealthandillness.
aspx
Web: The UCL Center for the History of Medicine
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/
Web: The Wellcome Library. Search "mental illness".
http://wellcomelibrary.org/
Web: US National Library of Medicine
http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?query=mental+illness&v:
project=nlm-main-website
1. What does it mean to say that someone is mentally ill? What criteria are
usually considered to determine whether someone is mentally ill?
2. Describe the difference between supernatural, somatogenic, and
psychogenic theories of mental illness and how subscribing to a particular
etiological theory determines the type of treatment used.
3. How did the Greeks describe hysteria and what treatment did they
prescribe?
4. Describe humorism and how it explained mental illness.
5. Describe how the witch hunts came about and their relationship to mental
illness.
6. Describe the development of treatment facilities for the mentally insane,
from asylums to community mental health centers.
7. Describe the humane treatment of the mentally ill brought about by
Chiarughi, Pinel, and Tuke in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and how
it differed from the care provided in the centuries preceding it.
8. Describe William Tukes treatment of the mentally ill at the York Retreat
within the context of the Quaker Society of Friends. What influence did Tukes
treatment have in other parts of the world?
9. What are the 20th-century treatments resulting from the psychogenic and
somatogenic theories of mental illness?
10. Describe why a classification system is important and how the leading
classification system used in the United States works. Describe some
concerns with regard to this system.
Vocabulary
Animism
The belief that everyone and everything had a soul and that mental illness
was due to animistic causes, for example, evil spirits controlling an individual
and his/her behavior.
Asylum
A place of refuge or safety established to confine and care for the mentally ill;
forerunners of the mental hospital or psychiatric facility.
Biopsychosocial model
A model in which the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural
factors is seen as influencing the development of the individual.
Cathartic method
A therapeutic procedure introduced by Breuer and developed further by Freud
in the late 19th century whereby a patient gains insight and emotional relief
from recalling and reliving traumatic events.
Cultural relativism
The idea that cultural norms and values of a society can only be understood on
their own terms or in their own context.
Etiology
The causal description of all of the factors that contribute to the development
of a disorder or illness.
Humorism (or humoralism)

A belief held by ancient Greek and Roman physicians (and until the 19th century)
that an excess or deficiency in any of the four bodily fluids, or humorsblood,
black bile, yellow bile, and phlegmdirectly affected their health and
temperament.
Hysteria
Term used by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to describe a disorder believed
to be caused by a womans uterus wandering throughout the body and
interfering with other organs (today referred to as conversion disorder, in which
psychological problems are expressed in physical form).
Maladaptive
Term referring to behaviors that cause people who have them physical or
emotional harm, prevent them from functioning in daily life, and/or indicate
that they have lost touch with reality and/or cannot control their thoughts and
behavior (also called dysfunctional).
Mesmerism
Derived from Franz Anton Mesmer in the late 18th century, an early version of
hypnotism in which Mesmer claimed that hysterical symptoms could be treated
through animal magnetism emanating from Mesmers body and permeating
the universe (and later through magnets); later explained in terms of high
suggestibility in individuals.
Psychogenesis
Developing from psychological origins.
Somatogenesis
Developing from physical/bodily origins.
Supernatural
Developing from origins beyond the visible observable universe.
Syndrome
Involving a particular group of signs and symptoms.
Traitement moral (moral treatment)
A therapeutic regimen of improved nutrition, living conditions, and rewards for
productive behavior that has been attributed to Philippe Pinel during the French
Revolution, when he released mentally ill patients from their restraints and
treated them with compassion and dignity rather than with contempt and
denigration.
Trephination
The drilling of a hole in the skull, presumably as a way of treating psychological
disorders.
Reference List
Bell, L. V. (1980). Treating the mentally ill: From colonial times to the present.
New York: Praeger.
Forrest, D. (1999). Hypnotism: A history. New York: Penguin.
Grob, G. N. (1994). The mad among us: A history of the care of Americas mentally
ill. New York: Free Press.
Luborsky, L., Rosenthal, R., Diguer, L., Andrusyna, T. P., Berman, J. S., Levitt, J.
T., . . . Krause, E. D. (2002). The dodo bird verdict is alive and wellmostly.
Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9, 212.
Messer, S. B., & Wampold, B. E. (2002). Let's face facts: Common factors are
more potent than specific therapy ingredients. Clinical Psychology: Science
and Practice, 9(1), 2125.
Micale, M. S. (1985). The Salptrire in the age of Charcot: An institutional
perspective on medical history in the late nineteenth century. Journal of
Contemporary History, 20, 703731.
Restak, R. (2000). Mysteries of the mind. Washington, DC: National Geographic
Society.
Schoeneman, T. J. (1977). The role of mental illness in the European witch hunts
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: An assessment. Journal of the
History of the Behavioral Sciences, 13(4), 337351.
Tseng, W. (1973). The development of psychiatric concepts in traditional Chinese
medicine. Archives of General Psychiatry, 29, 569575.

Viney, W., & Zorich, S. (1982). Contributions to the history of psychology: XXIX.
Dorothea Dix and the history of psychology. Psychological Reports, 50, 211
218.
Zilboorg, G., & Henry, G. W. (1941). A history of medical psychology. New York:
W. W. Norton.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. History of Mental Illness by Ingrid G. Farreras is
licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Therapeutic Orientations
Hannah Boettcher, Stefan G. Hofmann & Q. Jade Wu
Boston University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
In the past century, a number of psychotherapeutic orientations have gained
popularity for treating mental illnesses. This chapter outlines some of the bestknown therapeutic approaches and explains the history, techniques,
advantages, and disadvantages associated with each. The most effective
modern approach is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). We also discuss
psychoanalytic therapy, person-centered therapy, and mindfulness-based
approaches. Drug therapy and emerging new treatment strategies will also be
briefly explored.
Learning Objectives
Become familiar with the most widely practiced approaches to

psychotherapy.
For each therapeutic approach, consider: history, goals, key techniques, and
empirical support.
Consider the impact of emerging treatment strategies in mental health.
Introduction
Nearly half of all Americans will experience mental illness at some point in their
lives, and mental health problems affect more than one-quarter of the
population in any given year (Kessler et al., 2005). Fortunately, a range of
psychotherapies, primarily cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches, exist
to treat mental illnesses.
This chapter provides an overview of some of the best-known schools of
thought in psychotherapy. The most effective contemporary approach is CBT.
Other approaches are psychoanalytic therapies, person-centered therapies,
and acceptance and mindfulness-based therapies. The effectiveness of these
treatments is not as clear as they are for CBT. Sometimes, adding psychiatric
medications can enhance the effects of psychotherapies. As you read, note the
advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and consider the degree to
which they have demonstrated effectiveness through empirical research.
Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapy

The earliest organized therapy for mental disorders was psychoanalysis. This
approach stresses that mental health problems come from unconscious
conflicts and desires, which must be uncovered in order to resolve mental
illness. Psychoanalysis also highlights the importance of early childhood
experiences in determining mental health later in life. Psychoanalysis is an
intensive, long-term approach in which patients and therapists may meet
multiple times per week, often for many years.
nobaproject.com - Therapeutic Orientations
1838
History of Psychoanalytic Therapy

Psychoanalysis was made famous in the early 20th century by one of the bestknown clinicians of all time, Sigmund Freud. Freud initially suggested that
mental health problems arose from efforts to push inappropriate sexual urges
out of conscious awareness (Freud, 1895/1955). Later, Freud suggested more
generally that psychiatric problems were the result of tension between different
parts of the mind. His structural model had three elements: the id, the superego,
and the ego. The id represents pleasure-driven unconscious urges, while the
superego is the semi-conscious part of the mind where morals and societal
judgment are internalized. The ego, also partly conscious, mediates between
the id and superego. Freud believed that bringing unconscious struggles into
conscious awareness would relieve the stress of this conflict (Freud, 1920/1955),
which became the goal of psychoanalytic therapy.
Although psychoanalysis is still practiced today, it has largely been replaced
by the more broadly defined psychodynamic therapy. This latter approach has
the same basic tenets as psychoanalysis, but is briefer, makes more effort to
put the client in his or her social and interpersonal context, and focuses more
on relieving psychological distress than on changing the person.
Techniques in Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysts and psychodynamic therapists employ several techniques to
explore patients unconscious mind. During free association, the patient shares
any and all thoughts that come to mind, without attempting to organize or
censor these thoughts in any way. The analyst uses his or her expertise to
discern patterns or underlying meaning in the patients thoughts. Another
common approach is to discuss childhood relationships with caregivers, which
are thought to determine the way a person relates to others and predict later
psychiatric difficulties. Psychoanalysts may also discuss their patients dreams.
1839
In Freudian theory, dreams contain not only manifest or actual content, but
also latent content, or symbolic underlying meaning that can be discovered
through dream analysis (Freud, 1900/1955).
In psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapy, the therapist plays a
receptive roleinterpreting the patients thoughts and behavior based on
clinical experience and psychoanalytic theory. Sometimes, psychoanalytic
therapists will seat patients facing away from them to promote freer selfdisclosure. Freudian theory suggests that patients may displace feelings for
people in their lives onto the therapist, a process known as transference, and
that
therapists
may
also
displace
emotions
onto
patients,
called
countertransference. The therapist views his or her relationship with the patient
as another reflection of the patients mind.
Advantages
and
Disadvantages
of
Psychoanalytic
Therapy
Psychoanalysis was once the only type of psychotherapy available, but presently
the number of therapists practicing this approach is decreasing in the United
States and around the world. Psychoanalysis is not appropriate for some types
of patients, including those with severe psychopathology or mental retardation.
Further, psychoanalysis is often expensive because treatment usually lasts
many years. Still, some patients and therapists find the prolonged and detailed
analysis very rewarding.
Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of psychoanalysis and related
approaches is the lack of empirical support for their effectiveness. The limited
research that has been conducted on these treatments suggests that they do
not reliably lead to better mental health outcomes (e.g., Driessen et al., 2010).
More recently, some review studies seem to suggest that long-term
psychodynamic therapies might be beneficial (e.g., Leichsenring & Rabung,
2008). However, other authors have questioned the validity of this review.
1840
Nevertheless, psychoanalytic theory was historys first attempt at formal

treatment of mental illnesses, setting the stage for more modern approaches.
Humanistic and Person-Centered Therapy

Proponents of humanistic and person-centered therapy (PCT) believe that
mental health problems result from an inconsistency between patients
behavior and their true personal identity. Thus, the goal of PCT is to create
conditions under which patients can discover their self-worth, feel comfortable
exploring their own identity, and alter their behavior to better reflect this
identity.
History of Person-Centered Therapy

PCT was developed in the mid-20th century by a psychologist named Carl
Rogers, amidst the growth of humanistic theory and human potential
movements. Rogers believed that all people had the potential to change and
that the role of therapists was to foster self-understanding and provide an
environment in which adaptive change was most likely to occur (Rogers, 1951).
Rogers suggested that the therapist and patient must be engaged in a genuine,
egalitarian relationship in which the therapist is nonjudgmental and
empathetic. Further, the patient should experience both a vulnerability to
anxiety, which motivates the desire to change, and appreciation for the
therapists support.
1841
Techniques in Person-Centered Therapy

Humanistic and person-centered therapy, like psychoanalysis, is a largely
unstructured conversation between the therapist, who takes a passive role, and
the patient, who undergoes self-discovery in an unfettered environment.
Rogerss original name for PCT was non-directive therapy, and this notion is
reflected in the flexibility found in PCT. Therapists do not try to change patients
thoughts or behaviors directly. Rather, their role is to provide the therapeutic
relationship as a platform for personal growth.
An important aspect of this relationship is the therapists unconditional
positive regard for patients feelings and behaviors through the therapists
expression of warmth and empathy. This creates an environment free of
approval or disapproval, where patients come to appreciate their value and to
behave in ways that are congruent with their own identity.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Person-Centered

Therapy
One key advantage of person-centered therapy is that it is highly acceptable to
patients. In other words, people tend to find the supportive, flexible
environment of this approach very rewarding. Furthermore, some of the
themes of PCT translate well to other therapeutic approaches. For example,
most therapists of any orientation find that clients respond well to being treated
with nonjudgmental empathy. The main disadvantage to PCT is that findings
about its effectiveness are mixed, possibly because the treatment is primarily
based on unspecific treatment factors (e.g., establishing a good relationship
with the patient) without considering specific treatment factors to directly target
the mental problem (Cuijpers et al., 2012; Friedli, King, Lloyd, & Horder, 1997).
Further research is necessary to evaluate its utility as a therapeutic approach.
1842
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) refers to a family of therapeutic
approaches whose goal is to alleviate psychological symptoms by changing their
underlying cognitions and behaviors. The premise of CBT is that thoughts,
behaviors, and emotions interact and contribute to psychopathology. CBT is
present-focused, based on behaviorally operationalized goals, and often
involves between-session homework assignments. CBT is a relatively brief
intervention of 12 to 16 weekly sessions, closely tailored to the nature of the
psychopathology and treatment of mental disorders. CBT has been shown to
be highly efficacious for virtually all psychiatric illnesses (Hofmann, Asnaani,
Vonk, Sawyer, & Fang, 2012).
History of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT developed from clinical work conducted in the mid-20th century by Dr.
Aaron T. Beck, a psychiatrist, and Albert Ellis, a psychologist. Beck used the term
automatic thoughts to refer to the thoughts that depressed patients reported
experiencing spontaneously. He observed that these thoughts arose from three
belief systems or schemas: beliefs about the self, beliefs about the world, and
beliefs about the future. In treatment, Becks cognitive therapy initially focuses
on identifying automatic thoughts, testing their validity, and replacing
maladaptive thoughts with more adaptive thoughts. In later stages of
treatment, the patients maladaptive schemas are examined and modified. Ellis
(1957) took a comparable approach in what he called rational-emotive behavior
therapy (and later rational-emotive-behavioral therapy), which also encouraged
patients to evaluate their own thoughts about situations.
1843
Techniques in CBT
Beck and Ellis strove to help patients identify maladaptive appraisalsthose
that were unhelpful or contributed to a mental health problemand substitute
more adaptive appraisals. This technique of reappraisal, or cognitive
restructuring, became a fundamental aspect of CBT. Another important
treatment target of CBT is the clients maladaptive behavior that maintains the
psychopathology. In treatment, therapists and patients work together to
develop healthy behavioral habits. For many mental health problems, especially
anxiety disorders, CBT incorporates what is known as exposure therapy. During
exposure therapy, a patient confronts a problematic situation and remains fully
engaged in the experience instead of avoiding it. The goal is to reduce fear
associated with the situation through extinction learning, a neurobiological and
cognitive process by which the patient unlearns the irrational fear. For
example, exposure therapy for someone with social anxiety might involve giving
formal presentations to a group of strangers. After repeated exposures, he or
she will experience less physiological fear and maladaptive thoughts about
public speaking, breaking the cycle of avoidance.
1844
Advantages and Disadvantages of CBT

CBT interventions tend to be relatively brief, making them cost-effective for the
average consumer. In addition, CBT is an intuitive treatment that makes logical
sense to patients. It can be adapted to suit the needs of many different
populations. One disadvantage is that CBT does involve significant effort on the
patients part because the patient is an active participant in treatment.
Therapists often assign homework between sessions to maintain the cognitive
and behavioral habits the patient is working on. The greatest strength of CBT
is the abundance of empirical support for its effectiveness. Studies have
1845
consistently found CBT to be equally or more effective than other forms of

treatment, including medication and other therapies (Butler, Chapman,
Forman, & Beck, 2006; Hofmann et al., 2012). For this reason, CBT is considered
a first-line treatment for many mental disorders.
Acceptance and Mindfulness-Based Approaches

Born out of age-old Buddhist and yoga practices, mindfulness is a process that
reflects a nonjudgmental, yet attentive, mental state. When in this state, one is
very aware of bodily sensations, thoughts, and the outside environment, and
this awareness is accompanied by nonjudgmental acceptance (Kabat-Zinn,
2003; Baer, 2003). There are two important components of mindfulness: 1) selfregulation of attention and 2) orientation toward the present moment (Bishop
et al., 2004). Mindfulness is thought to improve mental health because it draws
attention away from past and future stressors, encourages acceptance of
troubling thoughts and feelings, and promotes physical relaxation.
Techniques in Mindfulness-Based Therapy

Psychologists have adapted the practice of mindfulness as a form of
psychotherapy, generally called mindfulness-based therapy (MBT). Several
types of MBT have become popular in recent years, including mindfulnessbased stress reduction (MBSR) (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1982) and mindfulness-based
cognitive therapy (MBCT) (e.g., Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002).
MBSR uses meditation, yoga, and attention to physical experiences to reduce
stress. In MBCT, the focus of attention is on thoughts and their associated
emotions. For example, MBCT helps prevent relapse in depression by
encouraging patients to evaluate their own thoughts objectively and without
value judgment (Baer, 2003). These treatments have been used to address a
wide range of illnesses, including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, coronary
1846
artery disease, and fibromyalgia (Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt & Oh, 2010).
Mindfulness and acceptance figure prominently into some cognitivebehavioral therapies, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) (e.g.,
Linehan, Amstrong, Suarez, Allmon, & Heard, 1991). DBT is often used in the
treatment of borderline personality disorder, and it is founded on the dialectical
worldview of incorporating both acceptance and change in therapeutic
progress. DBT therapists employ cognitive-behavioral techniques as well as
mindfulness exercises.
Another form of treatment that also uses mindfulness techniques is
acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999).
This intervention is based on Skinnerian behaviorism. In this treatment, patients
are taught to observe their thoughts from a detached perspective (Hayes et al.,
1999). ACT encourages patients not to attempt changing or avoiding what
thoughts and emotions they observe within themselves. However, the
differences among ACT, CBT, and other mindfulness-based treatments are a
topic of current controversy in the literature.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Mindfulness-Based

Therapy
Two key advantages to mindfulness-based therapies are their acceptability and
accessibility to patients. Because yoga and meditation are already widely known
in popular culture, consumers of mental health care are interested in trying
related psychological therapies. Currently, psychologists have not come to a
consensus on the efficacy of MBT, although there is growing evidence to support
that it is effective for treating mood and anxiety disorders. For example, one
review of MBT studies for anxiety and depression found that mindfulness-based
interventions generally led to moderate symptom improvement (Hofmann et
al., 2010).
1847
Emerging Treatment Strategies

With growth in research and technology, psychologists have been able to
develop new treatment strategies in recent years. Often, these approaches
focus on enhancing existing treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapies.
Internet- and mobile-delivered therapies make psychological treatments
more available using smartphones and online technology. For example,
clinician-supervised online CBT modules allow patients to access treatment
from home on their own schedule. This is particularly important for patients
with less geographic or socioeconomic access to traditional treatments.
Smartphones help extend therapy to patients daily lives by allowing for
symptom tracking, homework reminders, and more frequent therapist contact.
Cognitive bias modification refers to exercises aimed at changing patients
problematic thought processes. For example, researchers might use a
computer game to train alcohol abusers to avoid stimuli related to alcohol, or
train socially anxious patients to interpret social stimuli positively. Strategies
such as these aim to target patients automatic and subconscious thoughts that
may be difficult to change through conscious effort. Like Internet- and mobiledelivered therapies, these approaches are promising because of their ease of
dissemination, but require further research to establish their effectiveness.
CBT-enhancing pharmaceutical agents are drugs that are used to improve
the effects of therapeutic interventions. Based on research translating findings
from animal experiments to humans, it has been shown that certain drugs that
influence the biological processes known to be involved in learning can enhance
the efficacy of some processes of psychotherapy. For example, the antibiotic
d-cycloserine improves treatment for anxiety disorders by facilitating the
learning processes that occur during exposure therapy. Ongoing research in
this exciting area may prove to be quite fruitful.
1848
Pharmacological Treatments
Psychiatric medications are frequently used as a treatment for mental
disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety
disorders. Psychological drugs are commonly used, in part, because they can
be prescribed by general practitioners, whereas only trained professionals are
qualified to deliver effective psychotherapy. While drugs and CBT therapists
tend to be almost equally effective, choosing the best intervention depends on
the disorder and individual being treated, as well as other factors, such as
treatment availability and comorbidity(i.e., having multiple mental or physical
disorders at once). Although many new types of drugs have been introduced
in recent decades, there is still much we do not understand about their
mechanism in the brain. Further research efforts are needed to refine our
understanding of both pharmacological and behavioral treatments.
Integrative and Eclectic Psychotherapy

In discussing therapeutic orientations, it is important to note that some
clinicians incorporate techniques from more than one approach, often known
as integrative or eclectic psychotherapy. Between 13% and 42% identified their
own approach as integrative or eclectic (Norcross & Goldfried, 2005).
Conclusion
Several schools of thought have emerged for treating mental health problems.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is the treatment with the most empirical support.
Other popular, but less supported approaches, include psychodynamic
therapies, person-centered therapy, mindfulness-based treatments, and
acceptance and commitment therapy. Recent advances in research and
1849
technology are allowing clinicians to treat more patients more effectively than
ever before.
1850
1. Psychoanalytic theory is no longer the dominant therapeutic approach,
because it lacks empirical support. Yet many consumers continue to seek
psychoanalytic or psychodynamic treatments. Do you think psychoanalysis
still has a place in mental health treatment? If so, why?
2. What might be some advantages and disadvantages of technological
advances in psychological treatment? What will psychotherapy look like 100
years from now?
3. Some people have argued that all therapies are about equally effective, and
that they all affect change through common factors such as the involvement
of a supportive therapist. Does this claim sound reasonable to you? Why or
why not?
4. When choosing a psychological treatment for a specific patient, what factors
besides the treatments demonstrated efficacy should be taken into
account?
Vocabulary
Acceptance and commitment therapy
A therapeutic approach designed to foster nonjudgmental observation of ones
own mental processes.
Automatic thoughts
Thoughts that occur spontaneously; often used to describe problematic
thoughts that maintain mental disorders.
Cognitive bias modification

Using exercises (e.g., computer games) to change problematic thinking habits.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

A family of approaches with the goal of changing the thoughts and behaviors
that influence psychopathology.
Comorbidity
Describes a state of having more than one psychological or physical disorder
at a given time.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

A treatment often used for borderline personality disorder that incorporates
both cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness elements.
Dialectical worldview
A perspective in DBT that emphasizes the joint importance of change and
acceptance.
Exposure therapy
A form of intervention in which the patient engages with a problematic (usually
feared) situation without avoidance or escape.
Free association
In psychodynamic therapy, a process in which the patient reports all thoughts
that come to mind without censorship, and these thoughts are interpreted by
the therapist.
Integrative or eclectic psychotherapy
Also called integrative psychotherapy, this term refers to approaches combining
multiple orientations (e.g., CBT with psychoanalytic elements).
Mindfulness
A process that reflects a nonjudgmental, yet attentive, mental state.
Mindfulness-based therapy
A form of psychotherapy grounded in mindfulness theory and practice, often
involving meditation, yoga, body scan, and other features of mindfulness
exercises.
Person-centered therapy
A therapeutic approach focused on creating a supportive environment for selfdiscovery.
Psychoanalytic therapy
Sigmund Freuds therapeutic approach focusing on resolving unconscious
conflicts.
Psychodynamic therapy
Treatment applying psychoanalytic principles in a briefer, more individualized
format.
Reappraisal, or Cognitive restructuring
The process of identifying, evaluating, and changing maladaptive thoughts in
psychotherapy.
Schema
A mental representation or set of beliefs about something.
Unconditional positive regard
In person-centered therapy, an attitude of warmth, empathy and acceptance
adopted by the therapist in order to foster feelings of inherent worth in the
patient.
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Stefan G. Hofmann, and Q. Jade Wu is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Schizophrenia Spectrum
Disorders
Deanna M. Barch
Washington University in St. Louis
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Schizophrenia and the other psychotic disorders are some of the most impairing
forms of psychopathology, frequently associated with a profound negative
effect on the individuals educational, occupational, and social function. Sadly,
these disorders often manifest right at time of the transition from adolescence
to adulthood, just as young people should be evolving into independent young
adults. The spectrum of psychotic disorders includes schizophrenia,
schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, schizotypal personality disorder,
schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, as well as psychosis
associated with substance use or medical conditions. In this chapter, we
summarize the primary clinical features of these disorders, describe the known
cognitive and neurobiological changes associated with schizophrenia, describe
potential risk factors and/or causes for the development of schizophrenia, and
describe currently available treatments for schizophrenia.
Learning Objectives
Describe the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia and related psychotic

disorders.
Describe the most well-replicated cognitive and neurobiological changes

associated with schizophrenia.
Describe the potential risk factors for the development of schizophrenia.
Describe the controversies associated with clinical high risk approaches

to identifying individuals at risk for the development of schizophrenia.
Describe the treatments that work for some of the symptoms of

schizophrenia.
The phenomenology of schizophrenia and related

psychotic disorders
Most of you have probably had the experience of walking down the street in a
city and seeing a person you thought was acting oddly. They may have been
dressed in an unusual way, perhaps disheveled or wearing an unusual collection
of clothes, makeup, or jewelry that did not seem to fit any particular group or
subculture. They may have been talking to themselves or yelling at someone
you could not see. If you tried to speak to them, they may have been difficult
to follow or understand, or they may have acted paranoid or starting telling a
bizarre story about the people who were plotting against them. If so, chances
are that you have encountered an individual with schizophrenia or another type
of psychotic disorder. If you have watched the movie A Beautiful Mind or The
Fisher King, you have also seen a portrayal of someone thought to have
schizophrenia. Sadly, a few of the individuals who have committed some of the
recently highly publicized mass murders may have had schizophrenia, though
most people who commit such crimes do not have schizophrenia. It is also likely
that you have met people with schizophrenia without ever knowing it, as they
may suffer in silence or stay isolated to protect themselves from the horrors
they see, hear, or believe are operating in the outside world. As these examples
begin to illustrate, psychotic disorders involve many different types of
symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and
behavior, abnormal motor behavior (including catatonia), and negative
symptoms such anhedonia/amotivation and blunted affect/reduced speech.
Delusions are false beliefs that are often fixed, hard to change even when
the person is presented with conflicting information, and are often culturally
influenced in their content (e.g., delusions involving Jesus in Judeo-Christian
cultures, delusions involving Allah in Muslim cultures). They can be terrifying
for the person, who may remain convinced that they are true even when loved
ones and friends present them with clear information that they cannot be true.
nobaproject.com - Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
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There are many different types or themes to delusions. The most common
delusions are persecutory and involve the belief that individuals or groups are
trying to hurt, harm, or plot against the person in some way. These can be
people that the person knows (people at work, the neighbors, family members),
or more abstract groups (the FBI, the CIA, aliens, etc.). Other types of delusions
include grandiose delusions, where the person believes that they have some
special power or ability (e.g., I am the new Buddha, I am a rock star); referential
delusions, where the person believes that events or objects in the environment
have special meaning for them (e.g., that song on the radio is being played
specifically for me); or other types of delusions where the person may believe
that others are controlling their thoughts and actions, their thoughts are being
broadcast aloud, or that others can read their mind (or they can read other
peoples minds).
When you see a person on the street talking to themselves or shouting at
other people, they are experiencing hallucinations. These are perceptual
experiences that occur even when there is no stimulus in the outside world
generating the experiences. They can be auditory, visual, olfactory (smell),
gustatory (taste), or somatic (touch). The most common hallucinations in
psychosis (at least in adults) are auditory, and can involve one or more voices
talking about the person, commenting on the persons behavior, or giving them
orders. The content of the hallucinations is frequently negative (you are a loser,
that drawing is stupid, you should go kill yourself) and can be the voice of
someone the person knows or a complete stranger. Sometimes the voices
sound as if they are coming from outside the persons head. Other times the
voices seem to be coming from inside the persons head, but are not
experienced the same as the persons inner thoughts or inner speech.
Talking to someone with schizophrenia is sometimes difficult, as their speech
may be difficult to follow, either because their answers do not clearly flow from
your questions, or because one sentence does not logically follow from another.
This is referred to as disorganized speech, and it can be present even when
1863
the person is writing. Disorganized behavior can include odd dress, odd
makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or unusual rituals (e.g.,
repetitive hand gestures). Abnormal motor behavior can include catatonia,
which refers to a variety of behaviors that seem to reflect a reduction in
responsiveness to the external environment. This can include holding unusual
postures for long periods of time, failing to respond to verbal or motor prompts
from another person, or excessive and seemingly purposeless motor activity.
Some of the most debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia are difficult for
others to see. These include what people refer to as negative symptoms or
the absence of certain things we typically expect most people to have. For
example, anhedonia or amotivation reflect a lack of apparent interest in or drive
to engage in social or recreational activities. These symptoms can manifest as
a great amount of time spent in physical immobility. Importantly, anhedonia
and amotivation do not seem to reflect a lack of enjoyment in pleasurable
activities or events (Cohen & Minor, 2010; Kring & Moran, 2008; Llerena, Strauss,
& Cohen, 2012) but rather a reduced drive or ability to take the steps necessary
to obtain the potentially positive outcomes (Barch & Dowd, 2010). Flat affect
and reduced speech (alogia) reflect a lack of showing emotions through facial
expressions, gestures, and speech intonation, as well as a reduced amount of
speech and increased pause frequency and duration.
In many ways, the types of symptoms associated with psychosis are the
most difficult for us to understand, as they may seem far outside the range of
our normal experiences. Unlike depression or anxiety, many of us may not have
had experiences that we think of as on the same continuum as psychosis.
However, just like many of the other forms of psychopathology described in
this book, the types of psychotic symptoms that characterize disorders like
schizophrenia are on a continuum with normal mental experiences. For
example, work by Jim van Os in the Netherlands has shown that a surprisingly
large percentage of the general population (10%+) experience psychotic-like
symptoms, though many fewer have multiple experiences and most will not
1864
continue to experience these symptoms in the long run (Verdoux & van Os,
2002). Similarly, work in a general population of adolescents and young adults
in Kenya has also shown that a relatively high percentage of individuals
experience one or more psychotic-like experiences (~19%) at some point in their
lives (Mamah et al., 2012; Ndetei et al., 2012), though again most will not go on
to develop a full-blown psychotic disorder.
Schizophrenia is the primary disorder that comes to mind when we discuss
psychotic disorders (see Table 1 for diagnostic criteria), though there are a
number of other disorders that share one or more features with schizophrenia.
In the remainder of this chapter, we will use the terms psychosis and
schizophrenia somewhat interchangeably, given that most of the research has
focused on schizophrenia. In addition to schizophrenia (see Table 1), other
psychotic disorders include schizophreniform disorder (a briefer version of
schizophrenia), schizoaffective disorder (a mixture of psychosis and
depression/mania symptoms), delusional disorder (the experience of only
delusions), and brief psychotic disorder (psychotic symptoms that last only a
few days or weeks).
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The Cognitive Neuroscience of Schizophrenia

As described above, when we think of the core symptoms of psychotic disorders
such as schizophrenia, we think of people who hear voices, see visions, and
have false beliefs about reality (i.e., delusions). However, problems in cognitive
function are also a critical aspect of psychotic disorders and of schizophrenia
in particular. This emphasis on cognition in schizophrenia is in part due to the
growing body of research suggesting that cognitive problems in schizophrenia
are a major source of disability and loss of functional capacity (Green, 2006;
Nuechterlein et al., 2011). The cognitive deficits that are present in
schizophrenia are widespread and can include problems with episodic memory
(the ability to learn and retrieve new information or episodes in ones life),
working memory (the ability to maintain information over a short period of
time, such as 30 seconds), and other tasks that require one to control or
regulate ones behavior (Barch & Ceaser, 2012; Bora, Yucel, & Pantelis, 2009a;
Fioravanti, Carlone, Vitale, Cinti, & Clare, 2005; Forbes, Carrick, McIntosh, &
Lawrie, 2009; Mesholam-Gately, Giuliano, Goff, Faraone, & Seidman, 2009).
Individuals with schizophrenia also have difficulty with what is referred to as
processing speed and are frequently slower than healthy individuals on
almost all tasks. Importantly, these cognitive deficits are present prior to the
onset of the illness (Fusar-Poli et al., 2007) and are also present, albeit in a milder
form, in the first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia (Snitz,
Macdonald, & Carter, 2006). This suggests that cognitive impairments in
schizophrenia reflect part of the risk for the development of psychosis, rather
than being an outcome of developing psychosis. Further, people with
schizophrenia who have more severe cognitive problems also tend to have
more severe negative symptoms and more disorganized speech and behavior
(Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2003; Barch et al., 1999; Dominguez Mde, Viechtbauer,
Simons, van Os, & Krabbendam, 2009; Ventura, Hellemann, Thames, Koellner,
& Nuechterlein, 2009; Ventura, Thames, Wood, Guzik, & Hellemann, 2010). In
1867
addition, people with more cognitive problems have worse function in everyday
life (Bowie et al., 2008; Bowie, Reichenberg, Patterson, Heaton, & Harvey, 2006;
Fett et al., 2011).
Some people with schizophrenia also show deficits in what is referred to as
social cognition, though it is not clear whether such problems are separate from
the cognitive problems described above or the result of them (Hoe, Nakagami,
Green, & Brekke, 2012; Kerr & Neale, 1993; van Hooren et al., 2008). This includes
problems with the recognition of emotional expressions on the faces of other
individuals (Kohler, Walker, Martin, Healey, & Moberg, 2010) and problems
inferring the intentions of other people (theory of mind) (Bora, Yucel, & Pantelis,
2009b). Individuals with schizophrenia who have more problems with social
cognition also tend to have more negative and disorganized symptoms
(Ventura, Wood, & Hellemann, 2011), as well as worse community function (Fett
et al., 2011).
The advent of neuroimaging techniques such as structural and functional
magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography opened up
the ability to try to understand the brain mechanisms of the symptoms of
schizophrenia as well as the cognitive impairments found in psychosis. For
example, a number of studies have suggested that delusions in psychosis may
be associated with problems in salience detection mechanisms supported by
the ventral striatum (Jensen & Kapur, 2009; Jensen et al., 2008; Kapur, 2003;
Kapur, Mizrahi, & Li, 2005; Murray et al., 2008) and the anterior prefrontal cortex
(Corlett et al., 2006; Corlett, Honey, & Fletcher, 2007; Corlett, Murray, et al.,
2007a, 2007b). These are regions of the brain that normally increase their
activity when something important (aka salient) happens in the environment.
If these brain regions misfire, it may lead individuals with psychosis to
mistakenly attribute importance to irrelevant or unconnected events. Further,
there is good evidence that problems in working memory and cognitive control
in schizophrenia are related to problems in the function of a region of the brain
called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (Minzenberg, Laird, Thelen,
1868
Carter, & Glahn, 2009; Ragland et al., 2009). These problems include changes
in how the DLPFC works when people are doing working-memory or cognitivecontrol tasks, and problems with how this brain region is connected to other
brain regions important for working memory and cognitive control, including
the posterior parietal cortex (e.g., Karlsgodt et al., 2008; J. J. Kim et al., 2003;
Schlosser et al., 2003), the anterior cingulate (Repovs & Barch, 2012), and
temporal cortex (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1995; Meyer-Lindenberg et al., 2001). In
terms of understanding episodic memory problems in schizophrenia, many
researchers have focused on medial temporal lobe deficits, with a specific focus
on the hippocampus (e.g., Heckers & Konradi, 2010). This is because there is
much data from humans and animals showing that the hippocampus is
important for the creation of new memories (Squire, 1992). However, it has
become increasingly clear that problems with the DLPFC also make important
contributions to episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia (Ragland et al.,
2009), probably because this part of the brain is important for controlling our
use of memory.
In addition to problems with regions such as the DLFPC and medial temporal
lobes in schizophrenia described above, magnitude resonance neuroimaging
studies have also identified changes in cellular architecture, white matter
connectivity, and gray matter volume in a variety of regions that include the
prefrontal and temporal cortices (Bora et al., 2011). People with schizophrenia
also show reduced overall brain volume, and reductions in brain volume as
people get older may be larger in those with schizophrenia than in healthy
people (Olabi et al., 2011). Taking antipsychotic medications or taking drugs
such as marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco may cause some of these structural
changes. However, these structural changes are not completely explained by
medications or substance use alone. Further, both functional and structural
brain changes are seen, again to a milder degree, in the first-degree relatives
of people with schizophrenia (Boos, Aleman, Cahn, Pol, & Kahn, 2007; Brans et
al., 2008; Fusar-Poli et al., 2007; MacDonald, Thermenos, Barch, & Seidman,
1869
2009). This again suggests that that neural changes associated with
schizophrenia are related to a genetic risk for this illness.
Risk Factors for Developing Schizophrenia

It is clear that there are important genetic contributions to the likelihood that
someone will develop schizophrenia, with consistent evidence from family, twin,
and adoption studies. (Sullivan, Kendler, & Neale, 2003). However, there is no
schizophrenia gene and it is likely that the genetic risk for schizophrenia
reflects the summation of many different genes that each contribute something
to the likelihood of developing psychosis (Gottesman & Shields, 1967; Owen,
Craddock, & O'Donovan, 2010). Further, schizophrenia is a very heterogeneous
disorder, which means that two different people with schizophrenia may each
have very different symptoms (e.g., one has hallucinations and delusions, the
other has disorganized speech and negative symptoms). This makes it even
more challenging to identify specific genes associated with risk for psychosis.
Importantly, many studies also now suggest that at least some of the genes
potentially associated with schizophrenia are also associated with other mental
health conditions, including bipolar disorder, depression, and autism (Gejman,
Sanders, & Kendler, 2011; Y. Kim, Zerwas, Trace, & Sullivan, 2011; Owen et al.,
2010; Rutter, Kim-Cohen, & Maughan, 2006).
There are also a number of environmental factors that are associated with
an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. For example, problems during
pregnancy such as increased stress, infection, malnutrition, and/or diabetes
have been associated with increased risk of schizophrenia. In addition,
complications that occur at the time of birth and which cause hypoxia (lack of
oxygen) are also associated with an increased risk for developing schizophrenia
(M. Cannon, Jones, & Murray, 2002; Miller et al., 2011). Children born to older
fathers are also at a somewhat increased risk of developing schizophrenia.
Further, using cannabis increases risk for developing psychosis, especially if
1870
you have other risk factors (Casadio, Fernandes, Murray, & Di Forti, 2011; Luzi,
Morrison, Powell, di Forti, & Murray, 2008). The likelihood of developing
schizophrenia is also higher for kids who grow up in urban settings (March et
al., 2008) and for some minority ethnic groups (Bourque, van der Ven, & Malla,
2011). Both of these factors may reflect higher social and environmental stress
in these settings. Unfortunately, none of these risk factors is specific enough
to be particularly useful in a clinical setting, and most people with these risk
factors do not develop schizophrenia. However, together they are beginning to
give us clues as the neurodevelopmental factors that may lead someone to be
at an increased risk for developing this disease.
An important research area on risk for psychosis has been work with
individuals who may be at clinical high risk. These are individuals who are
showing attenuated (milder) symptoms of psychosis that have developed
recently and who are experiencing some distress or disability associated with
these symptoms. When people with these types of symptoms are followed over
time, about 35% of them develop a psychotic disorder (T. D. Cannon et al., 2008),
most frequently schizophrenia (Fusar-Poli, McGuire, & Borgwardt, 2012). In
order to identify these individuals, a new category of diagnosis, called
Attenuated Psychotic Syndrome, was added to Section III (the section for
disorders in need of further study) of the DSM-V (see Table 1 for symptoms)
(APA, 2013). However, adding this diagnostic category to the DSM-V created a
good deal of controversy (Batstra & Frances, 2012; Fusar-Poli & Yung, 2012).
Many scientists and clinicians have been worried that including risk states in
the DSM-V would create mental disorders where none exist, that these
individuals are often already seeking treatment for other problems, and that it
is not clear that we have good treatments to stop these individuals from
developing to psychosis. However, the counterarguments have been that there
is evidence that individuals with high-risk symptoms develop psychosis at a
much higher rate than individuals with other types of psychiatric symptoms,
and that the inclusion of Attenuated Psychotic Syndrome in Section III will spur
1871
important research that might have clinical benefits. Further, there is some
evidence that non-invasive treatments such as omega-3 fatty acids and
intensive family intervention may help reduce the development of full-blown
psychosis (Preti & Cella, 2010) in people who have high-risk symptoms.
Treatment of Schizophrenia
The currently available treatments for schizophrenia leave much to be desired,
and the search for more effective treatments for both the psychotic symptoms
of schizophrenia (e.g., hallucinations and delusions) as well as cognitive deficits
and negative symptoms is a highly active area of research. The first line of
treatment for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders is the use of
antipsychotic medications. There are two primary types of antipsychotic
medications, referred to as typical and atypical. The fact that typical
antipsychotics helped some symptoms of schizophrenia was discovered
serendipitously more than 60 years ago (Carpenter & Davis, 2012; Lopez-Munoz
et al., 2005). These are drugs that all share a common feature of being a strong
block of the D2 type dopamine receptor. Although these drugs can help reduce
hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech, they do little to improve
cognitive deficits or negative symptoms and can be associated with distressing
motor side effects. The newer generation of antipsychotics is referred to as
atypical antipsychotics. These drugs have more mixed mechanisms of action
in terms of the receptor types that they influence, though most of them also
influence D2 receptors. These newer antipsychotics are not necessarily more
helpful for schizophrenia but have fewer motor side effects. However, many of
the atypical antipsychotics are associated with side effects referred to as the
metabolic syndrome, which includes weight gain and increased risk for
cardiovascular illness, Type-2 diabetes, and mortality (Lieberman et al., 2005).
1872
The evidence that cognitive deficits also contribute to functional impairment

in schizophrenia has led to an increased search for treatments that might
enhance cognitive function in schizophrenia. Unfortunately, as of yet, there are
no pharmacological treatments that work consistently to improve cognition in
schizophrenia, though many new types of drugs are currently under
exploration. However, there is a type of psychological intervention, referred to
as cognitive remediation, which has shown some evidence of helping cognition
and function in schizophrenia. In particular, a version of this treatment called
Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) has been shown to improve cognition,
functional outcome, social cognition, and to protect against gray matter loss
(Eack et al., 2009; Eack, Greenwald, Hogarty, & Keshavan, 2010; Eack et al., 2010;
Eack, Pogue-Geile, Greenwald, Hogarty, & Keshavan, 2010; Hogarty, Greenwald,
& Eack, 2006) in young individuals with schizophrenia. The development of new
treatments such as Cognitive Enhancement Therapy provides some hope that
we will be able to develop new and better approaches to improving the lives of
individuals with this serious mental health condition and potentially even
prevent it some day.
1873
Outside Resources
Book: Ben Behind His Voices: One familys journal from the chaos of
schizophrenia to hope (2011). Randye Kaye. Rowman and Littlefield.
Book: Conquering Schizophrenia: A father, his son, and a medical

breakthrough (1997). Peter Wyden. Knopf.
Book: Henrys Demons: Living with schizophrenia, a father and sons story
(2011). Henry and Patrick Cockburn. Scribner Macmillan.
Book: My Mothers Keeper: A daughters memoir of growing up in the shadow

of schizophrenia (1997). Tara Elgin Holley. William Morrow Co.
Book: Recovered, Not Cured: A journey through schizophrenia (2005). Richard

McLean. Allen and Unwin.
Book: The Center Cannot Hold: My journey through madness (2008). Elyn R.
Saks. Hyperion.
Book: The Quiet Room: A journal out of the torment of madness (1996). Lori
Schiller. Grand Central Publishing.
Book: Welcome Silence: My triumph over schizophrenia (2003). Carol North.

CSS Publishing.
Web: National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. This is an excellent site for learning
more about advocacy for individuals with major mental illnesses such as
schizophrenia.
http://www.nami.org/
Web: National Institute of Mental Health. This website has information on
NIMH-funded schizophrenia research.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml
Web: Schizophrenia Research Forum. This is an excellent website that
contains a broad array of information about current research on
schizophrenia.
http://www.schizophreniaforum.org/
1. Describe the major differences between the major psychotic disorders.
2. How would one be able to tell when an individual is delusional versus

having non-delusional beliefs that differ from the societal normal? How
should cultural and sub-cultural variation been taken into account when
assessing psychotic symptoms?
3. Why are cognitive impairments important to understanding schizophrenia?
4. Why has the inclusion of a new diagnosis (Attenuated Psychotic Syndrome)

in Section III of the DSM-V created controversy?
5. What are some of the factors associated with increased risk for developing
schizophrenia? If we know whether or not someone has these risk factors,
how well can we tell whether they will develop schizophrenia?
6. What brain changes are most consistent in schizophrenia?
7. Do antipsychotic medications work well for all symptoms of schizophrenia?

If not, which symptoms respond better to antipsychotic medications?
8. Are there any treatments besides antipsychotic medications that help any
of the symptoms of schizophrenia? If so, what are they?
Vocabulary
Alogia
A reduction in the amount of speech and/or increased pausing before the
initiation of speech.
Anhedonia/amotivation
A reduction in the drive or ability to take the steps or engage in actions necessary
to obtain the potentially positive outcome.
Catatonia
Behaviors that seem to reflect a reduction in responsiveness to the external
environment. This can include holding unusual postures for long periods of
time, failing to respond to verbal or motor prompts from another person, or
excessive and seemingly purposeless motor activity.
Delusions
False beliefs that are often fixed, hard to change even in the presence of
conflicting information, and often culturally influenced in their content.
Diagnostic criteria
The specific criteria used to determine whether an individual has a specific type
of psychiatric disorder. Commonly used diagnostic criteria are included in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, 5th Edition (DSM-V) and
the Internal Classification of Disorders, Version 9 (ICD-9).
Disorganized behavior
Behavior or dress that is outside the norm for almost all subcultures. This would
include odd dress, odd makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or
unusual rituals (e.g., repetitive hand gestures).
Disorganized speech
Speech that is difficult to follow, either because answers do not clearly follow
questions or because one sentence does not logically follow from another.
Dopamine
A neurotransmitter in the brain that is thought to play an important role in
regulating the function of other neurotransmitters.
Episodic memory
The ability to learn and retrieve new information or episodes in ones life.
Flat affect
A reduction in the display of emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and
speech intonation.
Functional capacity
The ability to engage in self-care (cook, clean, bathe), work, attend school, and/
or engage in social relationships.
Hallucinations
Perceptual experiences that occur even when there is no stimulus in the outside
world generating the experiences. They can be auditory, visual, olfactory (smell),
gustatory (taste), or somatic (touch).
Magnetic resonance imaging
A set of techniques that uses strong magnets to measure either the structure
of the brain (e.g., gray matter and white matter) or how the brain functions
when a person performs cognitive tasks (e.g., working memory or episodic
memory) or other types of tasks.
Neurodevelopmental
Processes that influence how the brain develops either in utero or as the child
is growing up.
Positron emission tomography
A technique that uses radio-labelled ligands to measure the distribution of
different neurotransmitter receptors in the brain or to measure how much of
a certain type of neurotransmitter is released when a person is given a specific
type of drug or does a particularly cognitive task.
Processing speed
The speed with which an individual can perceive auditory or visual information
and respond to it.
Psychopathology
Illnesses or disorders that involve psychological or psychiatric symptoms.
Working memory
The ability to maintain information over a short period of time, such as 30
seconds or less.
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Anxiety and Related

Disorders
David H. Barlow & Kristen K. Ellard
Boston University, Massachusetts General Hospital
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Anxiety is a natural part of life and, at normal levels, helps us to function at our
best. However, for people with anxiety disorders, anxiety is overwhelming and
hard to control. Anxiety disorders develop out of a blend of biological (genetic)
and psychological factors that, when combined with stress, may lead to the
development of ailments. Primary anxiety-related diagnoses include
generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobia, social anxiety
disorder (social phobia), posttraumatic stress disorder, and obsessivecompulsive disorder. In this chapter, we summarize the main clinical features
of each of these disorders and discuss their similarities and differences with
everyday experiences of anxiety.
Learning Objectives
Understand the relationship between anxiety and anxiety disorders.
Identify key vulnerabilities for developing anxiety and related disorders.
Identify main diagnostic features of specific anxiety-related disorders.
Differentiate between disordered and non-disordered functioning.
Introduction
What is anxiety? Most of us feel some anxiety almost every day of our lives.
Maybe you have an important test coming up for school. Or maybe theres that
big game next Saturday, or that first date with someone new you are hoping to
impress. Anxiety can be defined as a negative mood state that is accompanied
by bodily symptoms such as increased heart rate, muscle tension, a sense of
unease, and apprehension about the future (APA, 2013; Barlow, 2002). Anxiety
is what motivates us to plan for the future, and in this sense, anxiety is actually
a good thing. Its that nagging feeling that motivates us to study for that test,
practice harder for that game, or be at our very best on that date. But some
people experience anxiety so intensely that it is no longer helpful or useful.
They may become so overwhelmed and distracted by anxiety that they actually
fail their test, fumble the ball, or spend the whole date fidgeting and avoiding
eye contact. If anxiety begins to interfere in the persons life in a significant way,
it is considered a disorder.
Anxiety and closely related disorders emerge from triple vulnerabilities,a
combination of biological, psychological, and specific factors that increase our
risk for developing a disorder (Barlow, 2002; Surez, Bennett, Goldstein, &
Barlow, 2009). Biological vulnerabilities refer to specific genetic and
neurobiological factors that might predispose someone to develop anxiety
disorders. No single gene directly causes anxiety or panic, but our genes may
make us more susceptible to anxiety and influence how our brains react to
stress (Drabant et al., 2012; Gelernter & Stein, 2009; Smoller, Block, & Young,
2009). Psychological vulnerabilities refer to the influences that our early
experiences have on how we view the world. If we were confronted with
unpredictable stressors or traumatic experiences at younger ages, we may
come to view the world as unpredictable and uncontrollable, even dangerous
(Chorpita & Barlow, 1998; Gunnar & Fisher, 2006). Specific vulnerabilities refer
to how our experiences lead us to focus and channel our anxiety (Surez et al.,
nobaproject.com - Anxiety and Related Disorders
1897
2009). If we learned that physical illness is dangerous, maybe through

witnessing our familys reaction whenever anyone got sick, we may focus our
anxiety on physical sensations. If we learned that disapproval from others has
negative, even dangerous consequences, such as being yelled at or severely
punished for even the slightest offense, we might focus our anxiety on social
evaluation. If we learn that the other shoe might drop at any moment, we may
focus our anxiety on worries about the future. None of these vulnerabilities
directly causes anxiety disorders on its owninstead, when all of these
vulnerabilities are present, and we experience some triggering life stress, an
anxiety disorder may be the result (Barlow, 2002; Surez et al., 2009). In the
next sections, we will briefly explore each of the major anxiety based disorders,
found in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-5) (APA, 2013).
Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Most of us worry some of the time, and this worry can actually be useful in
helping us to plan for the future or make sure we remember to do something
important. Most of us can set aside our worries when we need to focus on other
things or stop worrying altogether whenever a problem has passed. However,
for someone with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), these worries become
difficult, or even impossible, to turn off. They may find themselves worrying
excessively about a number of different things, both minor and catastrophic.
Their worries also come with a host of other symptoms such as muscle tension,
fatigue, agitation or restlessness, irritability, difficulties with sleep (either falling
asleep, staying asleep, or both), or difficulty concentrating.The DSM-5 criteria
specify that at least six months of excessive anxiety and worry of this type must
be ongoing, happening more days than not for a good proportion of the day,
to receive a diagnosis of GAD. About 5.7% of the population has met criteria
for GAD at some point during their lifetime (Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005),
1898
making it one of the most common anxiety disorders (see Table 1).
Table 1. Prevalence rates for major anxiety disorders. [1][2][3][4]
What makes a person with GAD worry more than the average person?
Research shows that individuals with GAD are more sensitive and vigilant toward
possible threats than people who are not anxious (Aikins & Craske, 2001; Barlow,
2002; Bradley, Mogg, White, Groom, & de Bono, 1999). This may be related to
early stressful experiences, which can lead to a view of the world as an
unpredictable, uncontrollable, and even dangerous place. Some have
suggested that people with GAD worry as a way to gain some control over these
otherwise uncontrollable or unpredictable experiences and against uncertain
1899
outcomes (Dugas, Gagnon, Ladouceur, & Freeston, 1998). By repeatedly going

through all of the possible What if? scenarios in their mind, the person might
feel like they are less vulnerable to an unexpected outcome, giving them the
sense that they have some control over the situation (Wells, 2002). Others have
suggested people with GAD worry as a way to avoid feeling distressed (Borkovec,
Alcaine, & Behar, 2004). For example, Borkovec and Hu (1990) found that those
who worried when confronted with a stressful situation had less physiological
arousal than those who didnt worry, maybe because the worry distracted
them in some way.
The problem is, all of this what if?-ing doesnt get the person any closer to
a solution or an answer and, in fact, might take them away from important
things they should be paying attention to in the moment, such as finishing an
important project. Many of the catastrophic outcomes people with GAD worry
about are very unlikely to happen, so when the catastrophic event doesnt
materialize, the act of worrying gets reinforced (Borkovec, Hazlett-Stevens, &
Diaz, 1999). For example, if a mother spends all night worrying about whether
her teenage daughter will get home safe from a night out and the daughter
returns home without incident, the mother could easily attribute her daughters
safe return to her successful vigil. What the mother hasnt learned is that her
daughter would have returned home just as safe if she had been focusing on
the movie she was watching with her husband, rather than being preoccupied
with worries. In this way, the cycle of worry is perpetuated, and, subsequently,
people with GAD often miss out on many otherwise enjoyable events in their
lives.
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Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

Have you ever gotten into a near-accident or been taken by surprise in some
way? You may have felt a flood of physical sensations, such as a racing heart,
shortness of breath, or tingling sensations. This alarm reaction is called the
fight or flight response (Cannon, 1929) and is your bodys natural reaction to
fear, preparing you to either fight or escape in response to threat or danger.
Its likely you werent too concerned with these sensations, because you knew
what was causing them. But imagine if this alarm reaction came out of the
blue, for no apparent reason, or in a situation in which you didnt expect to be
anxious or fearful. This is called an unexpected panic attack or a false alarm.
Because there is no apparent reason or cue for the alarm reaction, you might
react to the sensations with intense fear, maybe thinking you are having a heart
attack, or going crazy, or even dying. You might begin to associate the physical
sensations you felt during this attack with this fear and may start to go out of
your way to avoid having those sensations again.
Unexpected panic attacks such as these are at the heart of panic disorder
(PD). However, to receive a diagnosis of PD, the person must not only have
unexpected panic attacks but also must experience continued intense anxiety
and avoidance related to the attack for at least one month, causing significant
distress or interference in their lives. People with panic disorder tend to
interpret even normal physical sensations in a catastrophic way, which triggers
more anxiety and, ironically, more physical sensations, creating a vicious cycle
of panic (Clark, 1986, 1996). The person may begin to avoid a number of
situations or activities that produce the same physiological arousal that was
present during the beginnings of a panic attack. For example, someone who
experienced a racing heart during a panic attack might avoid exercise or
caffeine. Someone who experienced choking sensations might avoid wearing
high-necked sweaters or necklaces. Avoidance of these internal bodily or
somatic cues for panic has been termed interoceptive avoidance (Barlow &
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Craske, 2007; Brown, White, & Barlow, 2005; Craske & Barlow, 2008; Shear et
al., 1997).
The individual may also have experienced an overwhelming urge to escape
during the unexpected panic attack. This can lead to a sense that certain places
or situationsparticularly situations where escape might not be possibleare
not safe. These situations become external cues for panic. If the person begins
to avoid several places or situations, or still endures these situations but does
so with a significant amount of apprehension and anxiety, then the person also
has agoraphobia (Barlow, 2002; Craske & Barlow, 1988; Craske & Barlow, 2008).
Agoraphobia can cause significant disruption to a persons life, causing them
to go out of their way to avoid situations, such as adding hours to a commute
to avoid taking the train or only ordering take-out to avoid having to enter a
grocery store. In one tragic case seen by our clinic, a woman suffering from
agoraphobia had not left her apartment for 20 years and had spent the past
10 years confined to one small area of her apartment, away from the view of
the outside. In some cases, agoraphobia develops in the absence of panic
attacks and therefor is a separate disorder in DSM-5. But agoraphobia often
accompanies panic disorder.
About 4.7% of the population has met criteria for PD or agoraphobia over
their lifetime (Kessler, Chiu, Demler, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005; Kessler et al.,
2006) (see Table 1). In all of these cases of panic disorder, what was once an
adaptive natural alarm reaction now becomes a learned, and much feared, false
alarm.
Specific Phobia
The majority of us might have certain things we fear, such as bees, or needles,
or heights (Myers et al., 1984). But what if this fear is so consuming that you
cant go out on a summers day, or get vaccines needed to go on a special trip,
or visit your doctor in her new office on the 26th floor? To meet criteria for a
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diagnosis of specific phobia, there must be an irrational fear of a specific object

or situation that substantially interferes with the persons ability to function.
For example, a patient at our clinic turned down a prestigious and coveted artist
residency because it required spending time near a wooded area, bound to
have insects. Another patient purposely left her house two hours early each
morning so she could walk past her neighbors fenced yard before they let their
dog out in the morning.
The list of possible phobias is staggering, but four major subtypes of specific
phobia are recognized: blood-injury-injection (BII) type, situational type (such
as planes, elevators, or enclosed places), natural environment type for events
one may encounter in nature (for example, heights, storms, and water), and
animal type. A fifth category other includes phobias that do not fit any of the
four major subtypes (for example, fears of choking, vomiting, or contracting an
illness). Most phobic reactions cause a surge of activity in the sympathetic
nervous system and increased heart rate and blood pressure, maybe even a
panic attack. However, people with BII type phobias usually experience a
marked drop in heart rate and blood pressure and may even faint. In this way,
those with BII phobias almost always differ in their physiological reaction from
people with other types of phobia (Barlow & Liebowitz, 1995; Craske, Antony,
& Barlow, 2006; Hofmann, Alpers, & Pauli, 2009; Ost, 1992). BII phobia also runs
in families more strongly than any phobic disorder we know (Antony & Barlow,
2002; Page & Martin, 1998). Specific phobia is one of the most common
psychological disorders in the United States, with 12.5% of the population
reporting a lifetime history of fears significant enough to be considered a
phobia (Arrindell et al., 2003; Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005) (see Table 1). Most
people who suffer from specific phobia tend to have multiple phobias of several
types (Hofmann, Lehman, & Barlow, 1997).
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Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

Many people consider themselves shy, and most people find social evaluation
uncomfortable at best, or giving a speech somewhat mortifying. Yet, only a
small proportion of the population fear these types of situations significantly
enough to merit a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD) (APA, 2013). SAD
is more than exaggerated shyness (Bogels et al., 2010; Schneier et al., 1996). To
receive a diagnosis of SAD, the fear and anxiety associated with social situations
must be so strong that the person avoids them entirely, or if avoidance is not
possible, the person endures them with a great deal of distress. Further, the
fear and avoidance of social situations must get in the way of the persons daily
life, or seriously limit their academic or occupational functioning. For example,
a patient at our clinic compromised her perfect 4.0 grade point average because
she could not complete a required oral presentation in one of her classes,
causing her to fail the course. Fears of negative evaluation might make someone
repeatedly turn down invitations to social events or avoid having conversations
with people, leading to greater and greater isolation.
The specific social situations that trigger anxiety and fear range from oneon-one interactions, such as starting or maintaining a conversation; to
performance-based situations, such as giving a speech or performing on stage;
to assertiveness, such as asking someone to change disruptive or undesirable
behaviors. Fear of social evaluation might even extend to such things as using
public restrooms, eating in a restaurant, filling out forms in a public place, or
even reading on a train. Any type of situation that could potentially draw
attention to the person can become a feared social situation. For example, one
patient of ours went out of her way to avoid any situation in which she might
have to use a public restroom for fear that someone would hear her in the
bathroom stall and think she was disgusting. If the fear is limited to
performance-based situations, such as public speaking, a diagnosis of SAD
performance only is assigned.
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What causes someone to fear social situations to such a large extent? The
person may have learned growing up that social evaluation in particular can be
dangerous, creating a specific psychological vulnerability to develop social
anxiety (Bruch & Heimberg, 1994; Lieb et al., 2000; Rapee & Melville, 1997). For
example, the persons caregivers may have harshly criticized and punished
them for even the smallest mistake, maybe even punishing them physically. Or,
someone might have experienced a social trauma that had lasting effects, such
as being bullied or humiliated. Interestingly, one group of researchers found
that 92% of adults in their study sample with social phobia experienced severe
teasing and bullying in childhood, compared with only 35% to 50% among
people with other anxiety disorders (McCabe, Antony, Summerfeldt, Liss, &
Swinson, 2003). Someone else might react so strongly to the anxiety provoked
by a social situation that they have an unexpected panic attack. This panic attack
then becomes associated (conditioned response) with the social situation,
causing the person to fear they will panic the next time they are in that situation.
This is not considered PD, however, because the persons fear is more focused
on social evaluation than having unexpected panic attacks, and the fear of
having an attack is limited to social situations. As many as 12.1% of the general
population suffer from social phobia at some point in their lives (Kessler,
Berglund, et al., 2005), making it one of the most common anxiety disorders,
second only to specific phobia (see Table 1).
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

With stories of war, natural disasters, and physical and sexual assault
dominating the news, it is clear that trauma is a reality for many people. Many
individual traumas that occur every day never even make the headlines, such
as a car accident, domestic abuse, or the death of a loved one. Yet, while many
people face traumatic events, not everyone who faces a trauma develops a
disorder. Some, with the help of family and friends, are able to recover and
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continue on with their lives (Friedman, 2009). For some, however, the months
and years following a trauma are filled with intrusive reminders of the event, a
sense of intense fear that another traumatic event might occur, or a sense of
isolation and emotional numbing. They may engage in a host of behaviors
intended to protect themselves from being vulnerable or unsafe, such as
constantly scanning their surroundings to look for signs of potential danger,
never sitting with their back to the door, or never allowing themselves to be
anywhere alone. This lasting reaction to trauma is what characterizes
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A diagnosis of PTSD begins with the traumatic event itself. An individual
must have been exposed to an event that involves actual or threatened death,
serious injury, or sexual violence. To receive a diagnosis of PTSD, exposure to
the event must include either directly experiencing the event, witnessing the
event happening to someone else, learning that the event occurred to a close
relative or friend, or having repeated or extreme exposure to details of the event
(such as in the case of first responders). The person subsequently reexperiences the event through both intrusive memories and nightmares. Some
memories may come back so vividly that the person feels like they are
experiencing the event all over again, what is known as having a flashback. The
individual may avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma, including
conversations, places, or even specific types of people. They may feel
emotionally numb or restricted in their ability to feel, which may interfere in
their interpersonal relationships. The person may not be able to remember
certain aspects of what happened during the event. They may feel a sense of
a foreshortened future, that they will never marry, have a family, or live a long,
full life. They may be jumpy or easily startled, hypervigilant to their
surroundings, and quick to anger.
The prevalence of PTSD among the
population as a whole is relatively low, with 6.8% having experienced PTSD at

some point in their life (Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005) (see Table 1). Combat
and sexual assault are the most common precipitating traumas (Kessler,
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Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995). Whereas PTSD was previously
categorized as an Anxiety Disorder, in the most recent version of the DSM
(DSM-5; APA, 2013) it has been reclassified under the more specific category of
Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders.
A person with PTSD is particularly sensitive to both internal and external
cues that serve as reminders of their traumatic experience. For example, as we
saw in PD, the physical sensations of arousal present during the initial trauma
can become threatening in and of themselves, becoming a powerful reminder
of the event. Someone might avoid watching intense or emotional movies in
order to prevent the experience of emotional arousal. Avoidance of
conversations, reminders, or even of the experience of emotion itself may also
be an attempt to avoid triggering internal cues. External stimuli that were
present during the trauma can also become strong triggers. For example, if a
woman is raped by a man wearing a red t-shirt, she may develop a strong alarm
reaction to the sight of red shirts, or perhaps even more indiscriminately to
anything with a similar color red. A combat veteran who experienced a strong
smell of gasoline during a roadside bomb attack may have an intense alarm
reaction when pumping gas back at home. Individuals with a psychological
vulnerability toward viewing the world as uncontrollable and unpredictable may
particularly struggle with the possibility of additional future, unpredictable
traumatic events, fueling their need for hypervigilance and avoidance, and
perpetuating the symptoms of PTSD.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Have you ever had a strange thought pop into your mind, such as picturing the
stranger next to you naked? Or maybe you walked past a crooked picture on
the wall and couldnt resist straightening it. Most people have occasional strange
thoughts and may even engage in some compulsive behaviors, especially
when they are stressed (Boyer & Linard, 2008; Fullana et al., 2009). But for
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most people, these thoughts are nothing more than a passing oddity, and the
behaviors are done (or not done) without a second thought. For someone with
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), however, these thoughts and
compulsive behaviors dont just come and go. Instead, strange or unusual
thoughts are taken to mean something much more important and real, maybe
even something dangerous or frightening. The urge to engage in some behavior,
such as straightening a picture, can become so intense that it is nearly
impossible not to carry it out, or causes significant anxiety if it cant be carried
out. Further, someone with OCD might become preoccupied with the possibility
that the behavior wasnt carried out to completion and feel compelled to repeat
the behavior again and again, maybe several times before they are satisfied.
To receive a diagnosis of OCD, a person must experience obsessive thoughts
and/or compulsions that seem irrational or nonsensical, but that keep coming
into their mind. Some examples of obsessions include doubting thoughts (such
as doubting a door is locked or an appliance is turned off), thoughts of
contamination (such as thinking that touching almost anything might give you
cancer), or aggressive thoughts or images that are unprovoked or nonsensical.
Compulsions may be carried out in an attempt to neutralize some of these
thoughts, providing temporary relief from the anxiety the obsessions cause, or
they may be nonsensical in and of themselves. Either way, compulsions are
distinct in that they must be repetitive or excessive, the person feels driven
to carry out the behavior, and the person feels a great deal of distress if they
cant engage in the behavior. Some examples of compulsive behaviors are
repetitive washing (often in response to contamination obsessions), repetitive
checking (locks, door handles, appliances often in response to doubting
obsessions), ordering and arranging things to ensure symmetry, or doing things
according to a specific ritual or sequence (such as getting dressed or ready for
bed in a specific order). To meet diagnostic criteria for OCD, engaging in
obsessions and/or compulsions must take up a significant amount of the
persons time, at least an hour per day, and must cause significant distress or
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impairment in functioning. About 1.6% of the population has met criteria for
OCD over the course of a lifetime (Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005) (see Table 1).
Whereas OCD was previously categorized as an Anxiety Disorder, in the most
recent version of the DSM (DSM-5; APA, 2013) it has been reclassified under the
more specific category of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders.
People with OCD often confuse having an intrusive thought with their
potential for carrying out the thought. Whereas most people when they have
a strange or frightening thought are able to let it go, a person with OCD may
become stuck on the thought and be intensely afraid that they might somehow
lose control and act on it. Or worse, they believe that having the thought is just
as bad as doing it. This is called thought-action fusion. For example, one patient
of ours was plagued by thoughts that she would cause harm to her young
daughter. She experienced intrusive images of throwing hot coffee in her
daughters face or pushing her face underwater when she was giving her a bath.
These images were so terrifying to the patient that she would no longer allow
herself any physical contact with her daughter and would leave her daughter
in the care of a babysitter if her husband or another family was not available
to supervise her. In reality, the last thing she wanted to do was harm her
daughter, and she had no intention or desire to act on the aggressive thoughts
and images, nor does anybody with OCD act on these thoughts, but these
thoughts were so horrifying to her that she made every attempt to prevent
herself from the potential of carrying them out, even if it meant not being able
to hold, cradle, or cuddle her daughter. These are the types of struggles people
with OCD face every day.
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Treatments for Anxiety and Related Disorders

Many successful treatments for anxiety and related disorders have been
developed
over
the
years.
Medications
(anti-anxiety
drugs
and
antidepressants) have been found to be beneficial for disorders other than

specific phobia, but relapse rates are high once medications are stopped
(Heimberg et al., 1998; Hollon et al., 2005), and some classes of medications
(minor tranquilizers or benzodiazepines) can be habit forming. Exposure-based
cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) are effective psychosocial treatments for
anxiety disorders, and many show greater treatment effects than medication
in the long term (Barlow, Allen, & Basden, 2007; Barlow, Gorman, Shear, &
Woods, 2000). In CBT, patients are taught skills to help identify and change
problematic thought processes, beliefs, and behaviors that tend to worsen
symptoms of anxiety, and practice applying these skills to real-life situations
through exposure exercises. Patients learn how the automatic appraisals or
thoughts they have about a situation affect both how they feel and how they
behave. Similarly, patients learn how engaging in certain behaviors, such as
avoiding situations, tends to strengthen the belief that the situation is
something to be feared. A key aspect of CBT is exposure exercises, in which
the patient learns to gradually approach situations they find fearful or
distressing, in order to challenge their beliefs and learn new, less fearful
associations about these situations.
Typically 50% to 80% of patients receiving drugs or CBT will show a good
initial response, with the effect of CBT more durable. Newer developments in
the treatment of anxiety disorders are focusing on novel interventions, such as
the use of certain medications to enhance learning during CBT (Otto et al., 2010),
and transdiagnostic treatments targeting core, underlying vulnerabilities
(Barlow et al., 2011). As we advance our understanding of anxiety and related
disorders, so too will our treatments advance, with the hopes that for the many
people suffering from these disorders, anxiety can once again become
1910
something useful and adaptive, rather than something debilitating.
1911
Outside Resources
American Psychological Association (APA)
http://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/index.aspx
National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH)
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
Web: Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA)
http://www.adaa.org/
Web: Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD)
http://www.bu.edu/card/
1. Name and describe the three main vulnerabilities contributing to the
development of anxiety and related disorders. Do you think these disorders
could develop out of biological factors alone? Could these disorders develop
out of learning experiences alone?
2. Many of the symptoms in anxiety and related disorders overlap with
experiences most people have. What features differentiate someone with
a disorder versus someone without?
3. What is an alarm reaction? If someone experiences an alarm reaction when
they are about to give a speech in front of a room full of people, would you
consider this a true alarm or a false alarm?
4. Many people are shy. What differentiates someone who is shy from
someone with social anxiety disorder? Do you think shyness should be
considered an anxiety disorder?
5. Is anxiety ever helpful? What about worry?
Vocabulary
Agoraphobia
A sort of anxiety disorder distinguished by feelings that a place is uncomfortable
or may be unsafe because it is significantly open or crowded.
Anxiety
A mood state characterized by negative affect, muscle tension, and physical
arousal in which a person apprehensively anticipates future danger or
misfortune.
Biological vulnerability
A specific genetic and neurobiological factor that might predispose someone
to develop anxiety disorders.
Conditioned response
A learned reaction following classical conditioning, or the process by which an
event that automatically elicits a response is repeatedly paired with another
neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus), resulting in the ability of the neutral
stimulus to elicit the same response on its own.
External cues
Stimuli in the outside world that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders
of past traumatic events.
Fight or flight response
A biological reaction to alarming stressors that prepares the body to resist or
escape a threat.
Flashback
Sudden, intense re-experiencing of a previous event, usually trauma-related.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Excessive worry about everyday things that is at a level that is out of proportion
to the specific causes of worry.
Internal bodily or somatic cues
Physical sensations that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past
traumatic events.
Interoceptive avoidance
Avoidance of situations or activities that produce sensations of physical arousal
similar to those occurring during a panic attack or intense fear response.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
A disorder characterized by the desire to engage in certain behaviors excessively
or compulsively in hopes of reducing anxiety. Behaviors include things such as
cleaning, repeatedly opening and closing doors, hoarding, and obsessing over
certain thoughts.
Panic disorder (PD)
A condition marked by regular strong panic attacks, and which may include
significant levels of worry about future attacks.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A sense of intense fear, triggered by memories of a past traumatic event, that
another traumatic event might occur. PTSD may include feelings of isolation
and emotional numbing.
Psychological vulnerabilities
Influences that our early experiences have on how we view the world.
Reinforced response
Following the process of operant conditioning, the strengthening of a response
following either the delivery of a desired consequence (positive reinforcement)
or escape from an aversive consequence.
SAD performance only
Social anxiety disorder which is limited to certain situations that the sufferer
perceives as requiring some type of performance.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
A condition marked by acute fear of social situations which lead to worry and
diminished day to day functioning.
Specific vulnerabilities
How our experiences lead us to focus and channel our anxiety.
Thought-action fusion
The tendency to overestimate the relationship between a thought and an action,
such that one mistakenly believes a bad thought is the equivalent of a bad
action.
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Mood Disorders
Anda Gershon & Renee Thompson
Stanford University, Washington University in St. Louis
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Everyone feels down or euphoric from time to time, but this is different from
having a mood disorder such as major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder.
Mood disorders are extended periods of depressed, euphoric, or irritable
moods that in combination with other symptoms cause the person significant
distress and interfere with his or her daily life, often resulting in social and
occupational difficulties. In this chapter, we describe major mood disorders,
including their symptom presentations, general prevalence rates, and how and
why the rates of these disorders tend to vary by age, gender, and race. In
addition, biological and environmental risk factors that have been implicated
in the development and course of mood disorders, such as heritability and
stressful life events, are reviewed. Finally, we provide an overview of treatments
for mood disorders, covering treatments with demonstrated effectiveness, as
well as new treatment options showing promise.
Learning Objectives
Describe the diagnostic criteria for mood disorders.
Understand age, gender, and ethnic differences in prevalence rates of mood

disorders.
Identify common risk factors for mood disorders.
Know effective treatments of mood disorders.
The actress Brooke Shields published a memoir titled Down Came the Rain: My
Journey through Postpartum Depression in which she described her struggles
with depression following the birth of her daughter. Despite about one in 20
women experiencing depression after the birth of a baby (American Psychiatric
Association [APA], 2013), postpartum depressionrecently renamed perinatal
depressioncontinues to be veiled by stigma, owing in part to a widely held
expectation that motherhood should be a time of great joy. In an opinion piece
in the New York Times, Shields revealed that entering motherhood was a
profoundly overwhelming experience for her.
She vividly describes
experiencing a sense of doom and dread in response to her newborn baby.

Because motherhood is conventionally thought of as a joyous event and not
associated with sadness and hopelessness, responding to a newborn baby in
this way can be shocking to the new mother as well as those close to her. It may
also involve a great deal of shame for the mother, making her reluctant to
divulge her experience to others, including her doctors and family.
Feelings of shame are not unique to perinatal depression. Stigma applies
to other types of depressive and bipolar disorders and contributes to people
not always receiving the necessary support and treatment for these disorders.
In fact, the World Health Organization ranks both major depressive disorder
(MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) among the top 10 leading causes of disability
worldwide. Further, MDD and BD carry a high risk of suicide. It is estimated that
25%50% of people diagnosed with BD will attempt suicide at least once in their
lifetimes (Goodwin & Jamison, 2007).
nobaproject.com - Mood Disorders
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What Are Mood Disorders?

Mood Episodes
Everyone experiences brief periods of sadness, irritability, or euphoria. This is
different than having a mood disorder, such as MDD or BD, which are
characterized by a constellation of symptoms that causes people significant
distress or impairs their everyday functioning
A major depressive episode (MDE) refers to symptoms that co-occur for at
least two weeks and cause significant distress or impairment in functioning,
such as interfering with work, school, or relationships. Core symptoms include
feeling down or depressed or experiencing anhedonialoss of interest or
pleasure in things that one typically enjoys. According to the fifth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5; APA, 2013), the criteria for an MDE
require five or more of the following nine symptoms, including one or both of
the first two symptoms, for most of the day, nearly every day:
1. depressed mood
2. diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities
3. significant weight loss or gain or an increase or decrease in appetite
4. insomnia or hypersomnia
5. psychomotor agitation or retardation
6. fatigue or loss of energy
7. feeling worthless or excessive or inappropriate guilt
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8. diminished ability to concentrate or indecisiveness

9. recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, or a suicide attempt
These symptoms cannot be caused by physiological effects of a substance

or a general medical condition (e.g., hypothyroidism).
The core criterion for a manic or hypomanic episode is a distinct period of
abnormally and persistently euphoric, expansive, or irritable mood and
persistently increased goal-directed activity or energy. The mood disturbance
must be present for one week or longer in mania (unless hospitalization is
required) or four days or longer in hypomania. Concurrently, at least three of
the following symptoms must be present in the context of euphoric mood (or
at least four in the context of irritable mood):
1. inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
2. increased goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation
3. reduced need for sleep
4. racing thoughts or flight of ideas
5. distractibility
6. increased talkativeness
7. excessive involvement in risky behaviors
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Manic episodes are distinguished from hypomanic episodes by their

duration and associated impairment; whereas manic episodes must last one
week and are defined by a significant impairment in functioning, hypomanic
episodes are shorter and not necessarily accompanied by impairment in
functioning.
Mood Disorders
Two major types of unipolar disorders described by the DSM-5 (APA, 2013) are
major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder (PDD;
dysthymia). MDD is defined by one or more MDEs, but no history of manic or
hypomanic episodes. Criteria for PDD are feeling depressed most of the day
for more days than not, for at least two years. At least two of the following
symptoms are also required to meet criteria for PDD:
1. poor appetite or overeating
2. insomnia or hypersomnia
3. low energy or fatigue
4. low self-esteem
5. poor concentration or difficulty making decisions
6. feelings of hopelessness
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Like MDD, these symptoms need to cause significant distress or impairment

and cannot be due to the effects of a substance or a general medical condition.
To meet criteria for PDD, a person cannot be without symptoms for more than
two months at a time. PDD has overlapping symptoms with MDD. If someone
meets criteria for an MDE during a PDD episode, the person will receive
diagnoses of PDD and MDD.
Three major types of BDs are described by the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). Bipolar I
Disorder (BD I), which was previously known as manic-depression, is
characterized by a single (or recurrent) manic episode. A depressive episode is
not necessary but commonly present for the diagnosis of BD I. Bipolar II
Disorder is characterized by single (or recurrent) hypomanic episodes and
depressive episodes. Another type of BD is cyclothymic disorder, characterized
by numerous and alternating periods of hypomania and depression, lasting at
least two years. To qualify for cyclothymic disorder, the periods of depression
cannot meet full diagnostic criteria for an MDE; the person must experience
symptoms at least half the time with no more than two consecutive symptomfree months; and the symptoms must cause significant distress or impairment.
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It is important to note that the DSM-5 was published in 2013, and findings
based on the updated manual will be forthcoming. Consequently, the research
presented below was largely based on a similar, but not identical,
conceptualization of mood disorders drawn from the DSM-IV (APA, 2000).
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How Common Are Mood Disorders? Who Develops

Mood Disorders?
Depressive Disorders
In a nationally representative sample, lifetime prevalence rate for MDD is 16.6%
(Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005). This means that
nearly one in five Americans will meet the criteria for MDD during their lifetime.
The 12-month prevalencethe proportion of people who meet criteria for a
disorder during a 12-month periodfor PDD is approximately 0.5% (APA, 2013).
Although the onset of MDD can occur at any time throughout the lifespan,
the average age of onset is mid-20s, with the age of onset decreasing with
people born more recently (APA, 2000). Prevalence of MDD among older adults
is much lower than it is for younger cohorts (Kessler, Birnbaum, Bromet, Hwang,
Sampson, & Shahly, 2010). The duration of MDEs varies widely. Recovery begins
within three months for 40% of people with MDD and within 12 months for 80%
(APA, 2013). MDD tends to be a recurrent disorder with about 40%50% of those
who experience one MDE experiencing a second MDE (Monroe & Harkness,
2011). An earlier age of onset predicts a worse course. About 5%10% of people
who experience an MDE will later experience a manic episode (APA, 2000), thus
no longer meeting criteria for MDD but instead meeting them for BD I.
Diagnoses of other disorders across the lifetime are common for people with
MDD: 59% experience an anxiety disorder; 32% experience an impulse control
disorder, and 24% experience a substance use disorder (Kessler, Merikangas,
& Wang, 2007).
Women experience two to three times higher rates of MDD than do men
(Nolen-Hoeksema & Hilt, 2009). This gender difference emerges during puberty
(Conley & Rudolph, 2009). Before puberty, boys exhibit similar or higher
prevalence rates of MDD than do girls (Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). MDD
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is inversely correlated with socioeconomic status (SES), a persons economic

and social position based on income, education, and occupation. Higher
prevalence rates of MDD are associated with lower SES (Lorant, Deliege, Eaton,
Robert, Philippot, & Ansseau, 2003), particularly for adults over 65 years old
(Kessler et al., 2010).
Independent of SES, results from a nationally
representative sample found that European Americans had a higher prevalence

rate of MDD than did African Americans and Hispanic Americans, whose rates
were similar (Breslau, Aguilar-Gaxiola, Kendler, Su, Williams, & Kessler, 2006).
The course of MDD for African Americans is often more severe and less often
treated than it is for European Americans, however (Williams et al., 2007). Native
Americans have a higher prevalence rate than do European Americans, African
Americans, or Hispanic Americans (Hasin, Goodwin, Stinson & Grant, 2005).
Depression is not limited to industrialized or western cultures; it is found in all
countries that have been examined, although the symptom presentation as
well as prevalence rates vary across cultures (Chentsova-Dutton & Tsai, 2009).
Bipolar Disorders
The lifetime prevalence rate of bipolar spectrum disorders in the general U.S.
population is estimated at approximately 4.4%, with BD I constituting about 1%
of this rate (Merikangas et al., 2007). Prevalence estimates, however, are highly
dependent on the diagnostic procedures used (e.g., interviews vs. self-report)
and whether or not sub-threshold forms of the disorder are included in the
estimate. BD often co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders. Approximately
65% of people with BD meet diagnostic criteria for at least one additional
psychiatric disorder, most commonly anxiety disorders and substance use
disorders (McElroy et al., 2001). The co-occurrence of BD with other psychiatric
disorders is associated with poorer illness course, including higher rates of
suicidality (Leverich et al., 2003). A recent cross-national study sample of more
than 60,000 adults from 11 countries, estimated the worldwide prevalence of
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BD at 2.4%, with BD I constituting 0.6% of this rate (Merikangas et al., 2011). In

this study, the prevalence of BD varied somewhat by country. Whereas the
United States had the highest lifetime prevalence (4.4%), India had the lowest
(0.1%). Variation in prevalence rates was not necessarily related to SES, as in
the case of Japan, a high-income country with a very low prevalence rate of BD
(0.7%).
With regard to ethnicity, data from studies not confounded by SES or
inaccuracies in diagnosis are limited, but available reports suggest rates of BD
among European Americans are similar to those found among African
Americans (Blazer et al., 1985) and Hispanic Americans (Breslau, Kendler, Su,
Gaxiola-Aguilar, & Kessler, 2005). Another large community-based study found
that although prevalence rates of mood disorders were similar across ethnic
groups, Hispanic Americans and African Americans with a mood disorder were
more likely to remain persistently ill than European Americans (Breslau et al.,
2005). Compared with European Americans with BD, African Americans tend
to be underdiagnosed for BD (and over-diagnosed for schizophrenia)
(Kilbourne, Haas, Mulsant, Bauer, & Pincus, 2004; Minsky, Vega, Miskimen, Gara,
& Escobar, 2003), and Hispanic Americans with BD have been shown to receive
fewer psychiatric medication prescriptions and specialty treatment visits
(Gonzalez et al., 2007). Misdiagnosis of BD can result in the underutilization of
treatment or the utilization of inappropriate treatment, and thus profoundly
impact the course of illness.
As with MDD, adolescence is known to be a significant risk period for BD;
mood symptoms start by adolescence in roughly half of BD cases (Leverich et
al., 2007; Perlis et al., 2004). Longitudinal studies show that those diagnosed
with BD prior to adulthood experience a more pernicious course of illness
relative to those with adult onset, including more episode recurrence, higher
rates of suicidality, and profound social, occupational, and economic
repercussions (e.g., Lewinsohn, Seeley, Buckley, & Klein, 2002). The prevalence
of BD is substantially lower in older adults compared with younger adults (1%
1937
vs. 4%) (Merikangas et al., 2007).
What Are Some of the Factors Implicated in the

Development and Course of Mood Disorders?
Mood disorders are complex disorders resulting from multiple factors. Causal
explanations can be attempted at various levels, including biological and
psychosocial levels. Below are several of the key factors that contribute to onset
and course of mood disorders are highlighted.
Research across family and twin studies has provided support that genetic
factors are implicated in the development of MDD. Twin studies suggest that
familial influence on MDD is mostly due to genetic effects and that individualspecific environmental effects (e.g., romantic relationships) play an important
role, too. By contrast, the contribution of shared environmental effect by siblings
is negligible (Sullivan, Neale & Kendler, 2000). The mode of inheritance is not
fully understood although no single genetic variation has been found to
increase the risk of MDD significantly. Instead, several genetic variants and
environmental factors most likely contribute to the risk for MDD (Lohoff, 2010).
One environmental stressor that has received much support in relation to
MDD is stressful life events. In particular, severe stressful life eventsthose
that have long-term consequences and involve loss of a significant relationship
(e.g., divorce) or economic stability (e.g., unemployment) are strongly related
to depression (Brown & Harris, 1989; Monroe et al., 2009). Stressful life events
are more likely to predict the first MDE than subsequent episodes (Lewinsohn,
Allen, Seeley, & Gotlib, 1999). In contrast, minor events may play a larger role
in subsequent episodes than the initial episodes (Monroe & Harkness, 2005).
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Depression research has not been limited to examining reactivity to stressful

life events.
Much research, particularly brain imagining research using
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has centered on examining

neural circuitrythe interconnections that allow multiple brain regions to
perceive, generate, and encode information in concert. A meta-analysis of
neuroimaging studies showed that when viewing negative stimuli (e.g., picture
of an angry face, picture of a car accident), compared with healthy control
participants, participants with MDD have greater activation in brain regions
involved in stress response and reduced activation of brain regions involved in
positively motivated behaviors (Hamilton, Etkin, Furman, Lemus, Johnson, &
Gotlib, 2012).
Other environmental factors related to increased risk for MDD include
experiencing early adversity (e.g., childhood abuse or neglect; Widom, DuMont,
& Czaja, 2007), chronic stress (e.g., poverty) and interpersonal factors. For
example, marital dissatisfaction predicts increases in depressive symptoms in
both men and women. On the other hand, depressive symptoms also predict
increases in marital dissatisfaction (Whisman & Uebelacker, 2009). Research
has found that people with MDD generate some of their interpersonal stress
(Hammen, 2005). People with MDD whose relatives or spouses can be described
as critical and emotionally overinvolved have higher relapse rates than do those
living with people who are less critical and emotionally overinvolved (Butzlaff
& Hooley, 1998).
Peoples attributional styles or their general ways of thinking, interpreting,
and recalling information have also been examined in the etiology of MDD
(Gotlib & Joormann, 2010). People with a pessimistic attributional style tend to
make internal (versus external), global (versus specific), and stable (versus
unstable) attributions to negative events, serving as a vulnerability to
developing MDD. For example, someone who when he fails an exam thinks that
it was his fault (internal), that he is stupid (global), and that he will always do
poorly (stable) has a pessimistic attribution style. Several influential theories of
1939
depression incorporate attributional styles (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989;

Abramson Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978).
Bipolar Disorders
Although there have been important advances in research on the etiology,
course, and treatment of BD, there remains a need to understand the
mechanisms that contribute to episode onset and relapse. There is compelling
evidence for biological causes of BD, which is known to be highly heritable
(McGuffin, Rijsdijk, Andrew, Sham, Katz, & Cardno, 2003). It may be argued that
a high rate of heritability demonstrates that BD is fundamentally a biological
phenomenon. However, there is much variability in the course of BD both within
a person across time and across people (Johnson, 2005). The triggers that
determine how and when this genetic vulnerability is expressed are not yet
understood; however, there is evidence to suggest that psychosocial triggers
may play an important role in BD risk (e.g., Johnson et al., 2008; Malkoff-Schwartz
et al., 1998).
In addition to the genetic contribution, biological explanations of BD have
also focused on brain function. Many of the studies using fMRI techniques to
characterize BD have focused on the processing of emotional stimuli based on
the idea that BD is fundamentally a disorder of emotion (APA, 2000). Findings
show that regions of the brain thought to be involved in emotional processing
and regulation are activated differently in people with BD relative to healthy
controls (e.g., Altshuler et al., 2008; Hassel et al., 2008; Lennox, Jacob, Calder,
Lupson, & Bullmore, 2004).
However, there is little consensus as to whether a particular brain region
becomes more or less active in response to an emotional stimulus among
people with BD compared with healthy controls. Mixed findings are in part due
to samples consisting of participants who are at various phases of illness at the
time of testing (manic, depressed, inter-episode). Sample sizes tend to be
1940
relatively small, making comparisons between subgroups difficult. Additionally,

the use of a standardized stimulus (e.g., facial expression of anger) may not
elicit a sufficiently strong response. Personally engaging stimuli, such as
recalling a memory, may be more effective in inducing strong emotions
(Isacowitz, Gershon, Allard, & Johnson, 2013).
Within the psychosocial level, research has focused on the environmental
contributors to BD. A series of studies show that environmental stressors,
particularly severe stressors (e.g., loss of a significant relationship), can
adversely impact the course of BD. People with BD have substantially increased
risk of relapse (Ellicott, Hammen, Gitlin, Brown, & Jamison, 1990) and suffer
more depressive symptoms (Johnson, Winett, Meyer, Greenhouse, & Miller,
1999) following a severe life stressor. Interestingly, positive life events can also
adversely impact the course of BD. People with BD suffer more manic symptoms
after life events involving attainment of a desired goal (Johnson et al., 2008).
Such findings suggest that people with BD may have a hypersensitivity to
rewards.
Evidence from the life stress literature has also suggested that people with
mood disorders may have a circadian vulnerability that renders them sensitive
to stressors that disrupt their sleep or rhythms. According to social zeitgeber
theory (Ehlers, Frank, & Kupfer, 1988; Frank et al., 1994), stressors that disrupt
sleep, or that disrupt the daily routines that entrain the biological clock (e.g.,
meal times) can trigger episode relapse. Consistent with this theory, studies
have shown that life events that involve a disruption in sleep and daily routines,
such as overnight travel, can increase bipolar symptoms in people with BD
(Malkoff-Schwartz et al., 1998).
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What Are Some of the Well-Supported Treatments for

Mood Disorders?
There are many treatment options available for people with MDD. First, a
number of antidepressant medications are available, all of which target one or
more of the neurotransmitters implicated in depression.The earliest
antidepressant medications were monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).
MAOIs inhibit monoamine oxidase, an enzyme involved in deactivating
dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Although effective in treating
depression, MAOIs can have serious side effects. Patients taking MAOIs may
develop dangerously high blood pressure if they take certain drugs (e.g.,
antihistamines) or eat foods containing tyramine, an amino acid commonly
found in foods such as aged cheeses, wine, and soy sauce. Tricyclics, the secondoldest class of antidepressant medications, block the reabsorption of
norepinephrine, serotonin, or dopamine at synapses, resulting in their
increased availability. Tricyclics are most effective for treating vegetative and
somatic symptoms of depression. Like MAOIs, they have serious side effects,
the most concerning of which is being cardiotoxic. Selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs; e.g., Fluoxetine) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake
inhibitors (SNRIs; e.g., Duloxetine) are the most recently introduced
antidepressant
medications.
SSRIs,
the
most
commonly
prescribed
antidepressant medication, block the reabsorption of serotonin, whereas SNRIs

block the reabsorption of serotonin and norepinephrine. SSRIs and SNRIs have
fewer serious side effects than do MAOIs and tricyclics. In particular, they are
less cardiotoxic, less lethal in overdose, and produce fewer cognitive
impairments. They are not, however, without their own side effects, which
include but are not limited to difficulty having orgasms, gastrointestinal issues,
1942
and insomnia.
Other
biological
treatments
for
people
with
depression
include
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and

deep brain stimulation. ECT involves inducing a seizure after a patient takes
muscle relaxants and is under general anesthesia. ECT is viable treatment for
patients with severe depression or who show resistance to antidepressants
although the mechanisms through which it works remain unknown. A common
side effect is confusion and memory loss, usually short-term (SchulzeRauschenbach, Harms, Schlaepfer, Maier, Falkai, & Wagner, 2005). Repetitive
TMS is a noninvasive technique administered while a patient is awake. Brief
pulsating magnetic fields are delivered to the cortex, inducing electrical activity.
TMS has fewer side effects than ECT (Schulze-Rauschenbach et al., 2005), and
while outcome studies are mixed, there is evidence that TMS is a promising
treatment for patients with MDD who have shown resistance to other
treatments (Rosa et al., 2006). Most recently, deep brain stimulation is being
examined as a treatment option for patients who did not respond to more
traditional treatments like those already described. Deep brain stimulation
involves implanting an electrode in the brain. The electrode is connected to an
implanted neurostimulator, which electrically stimulates that particular brain
region. Although there is some evidence of its effectiveness (Mayberg et al.,
2005), additional research is needed.
Several psychosocial treatments have received strong empirical support,
meaning that independent investigations have achieved similarly positive
resultsa high threshold for examining treatment outcomes. These treatments
include but are not limited to behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and
interpersonal therapy. Behavior therapies focus on increasing the frequency
and quality of experiences that are pleasant or help the patient achieve mastery.
Cognitive therapies primarily focus on helping patients identify and change
distorted automatic thoughts and assumptions (e.g., Beck, 1967). Cognitivebehavioral therapies are based on the rationale that thoughts, behaviors, and
1943
emotions affect and are affected by each other. Interpersonal Therapy for
Depression focuses largely on improving interpersonal relationships by
targeting problem areas, specifically unresolved grief, interpersonal role
disputes, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits. Finally, there is also some
support for the effectiveness of Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy for
Depression (Leichsenring, 2001). The short-term treatment focuses on a limited
number of important issues, and the therapist tends to be more actively
involved than in more traditional psychodynamic therapy.
Bipolar Disorders
Patients with BD are typically treated with pharmacotherapy. Antidepressants
such as SSRIs and SNRIs are the primary choice of treatment for depression,
whereas for BD, lithium is the first line treatment choice. This is because SSRIs
and SNRIs have the potential to induce mania or hypomania in patients with
BD. Lithium acts on several neurotransmitter systems in the brain through
complex mechanisms, including reduction of excitatory (dopamine and
glutamate)
neurotransmission,
and
increasing
of
inhibitory
(GABA)
neurotransmission (Lenox & Hahn, 2000). Lithium has strong efficacy for the
treatment of BD (Geddes, Burgess, Hawton, Jamison, & Goodwin, 2004).
However, a number of side effects can make lithium treatment difficult for
patients to tolerate. Side effects include impaired cognitive function (Wingo,
Wingo, Harvey, & Baldessarini, 2009), as well as physical symptoms such as
nausea, tremor, weight gain, and fatigue (Dunner, 2000). Some of these side
effects can improve with continued use; however, medication noncompliance
remains an ongoing concern in the treatment of patients with BD.
Anticonvulsant medications (e.g., carbamazepine, valproate) are also
commonly used to treat patients with BD, either alone or in conjunction with
1944
lithium.
There are several adjunctive treatment options for people with BD.
Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT; Frank et al., 1994) is a
psychosocial intervention focused on addressing the mechanism of action
posited in social zeitgeber theory to predispose patients who have BD to
relapse, namely sleep disruption. A growing body of literature provides support
for the central role of sleep dysregulation in BD (Harvey, 2008). Consistent with
this literature, IPSRT aims to increase rhythmicity of patients lives and
encourage vigilance in maintaining a stable rhythm. The therapist and patient
work to develop and maintain a healthy balance of activity and stimulation such
that the patient does not become overly active (e.g., by taking on too many
projects) or inactive (e.g., by avoiding social contact). The efficacy of IPSRT has
been demonstrated in that patients who received this treatment show reduced
risk of episode recurrence and are more likely to remain well (Frank et al., 2005).
Conclusion
Everyone feels down or euphoric from time to time. For some people, these
feelings can last for long periods of time and can also co-occur with other
symptoms that, in combination, interfere with their everyday lives. When people
experience an MDE or a manic episode, they see the world differently. During
an MDE, people often feel hopeless about the future, and may even experience
suicidal thoughts. During a manic episode, people often behave in ways that
are risky or place them in danger. They may spend money excessively or have
unprotected sex, often expressing deep shame over these decisions after the
episode. MDD and BD cause significant problems for people at school, at work,
and in their relationships and affect people regardless of gender, age,
nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation. If you or someone you know is
suffering from a mood disorder, it is important to seek help. Effective treatments
are available and continually improving. If you have an interest in mood
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disorders, there are many ways to contribute to their understanding,

prevention, and treatment, whether by engaging in research or clinical work.
1946
Outside Resources
Books: Recommended memoirs include A Memoir of Madness by William
Styron (MDD); Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon
(MDD); and An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay
Redfield (BD).
Web: Visit the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies to find a
list of the recommended therapists and evidence-based treatments.
http://www.abct.org
Web: Visit the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance for educational
information and social support options.
http://www.dbsalliance.org/
1. What factors might explain the large gender difference in the prevalence
rates of MDD?
2. Why might American ethnic minority groups experience more persistent
BD than European Americans?
3. Why might the age of onset for MDD be decreasing over time?
4. Why might overnight travel constitute a potential risk for a person with BD?
5. What are some reasons positive life events may precede the occurrence of
manic episode?
Vocabulary
Anhedonia
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities one previously found enjoyable or
rewarding.
Attributional style
The tendency by which a person infers the cause or meaning of behaviors or
events.
Chronic stress
Discrete or related problematic events and conditions which persist over time
and result in prolonged activation of the biological and/or psychological stress
response (e.g., unemployment, ongoing health difficulties, marital discord).
Early adversity
Single or multiple acute or chronic stressful events, which may be biological or
psychological in nature (e.g., poverty, abuse, childhood illness or injury),
occurring during childhood and resulting in a biological and/or psychological
stress response.
Grandiosity
Inflated self-esteem or an exaggerated sense of self-importance and self-worth
(e.g., believing one has special powers or superior abilities).
Hypersomnia
Excessive daytime sleepiness, including difficulty staying awake or napping, or
prolonged sleep episodes.
Psychomotor agitation
Increased motor activity associated with restlessness, including physical actions
(e.g., fidgeting, pacing, feet tapping, handwringing).
Psychomotor retardation
A slowing of physical activities in which routine activities (e.g., eating, brushing
teeth) are performed in an unusually slow manner.
Social zeitgeber
Zeitgeber is German for time giver. Social zeitgebers are environmental cues,
such as meal times and interactions with other people, that entrain biological
rhythms and thus sleep-wake cycle regularity.
Socioeconomic status (SES)
A persons economic and social position based on income, education, and
occupation.
Suicidal ideation
Recurring thoughts about suicide, including considering or planning for suicide,
or preoccupation with suicide.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Mood Disorders by Anda Gershon and Renee
Thompson is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Personality Disorders
Cristina Crego & Thomas Widiger
nobaproject.com
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to define what is meant by a personality disorder,
identify the five domains of general personality (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion,
openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), identify the six personality
disorders proposed for retention in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (i.e., borderline, antisocial,
schizotypal, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, and narcissistic), summarize the
etiology for antisocial and borderline personality disorder, and identify the
treatment for borderline personality disorder (i.e., dialectical behavior therapy
and mentalization therapy).
Learning Objectives
Define what is meant by a personality disorder.
Identify the five domains of general personality.
Identify the six personality disorders proposed for retention in DSM-5.
Summarize the etiology for antisocial and borderline personality disorder.
Identify the treatment for borderline personality disorder.
Introduction
Everybody has their own unique personality; that is, their characteristic manner
of thinking, feeling, behaving, and relating to others (John, Robins, & Pervin,
2008). Some people are typically introverted, quiet, and withdrawn; whereas
others are more extraverted, active, and outgoing. Some individuals are
invariably conscientiousness, dutiful, and efficient; whereas others might be
characteristically undependable and negligent. Some individuals are
consistently anxious, self-conscious, and apprehensive; whereas others are
routinely relaxed, self-assured, and unconcerned. Personality traits refer to
these characteristic, routine ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others.
There are signs or indicators of these traits in childhood, but they become
particularly evident when the person is an adult. Personality traits are integral
to each persons sense of self, as they involve what people value, how they think
and feel about things, what they like to do, and, basically, what they are like
most every day throughout much of their lives.
There are literally hundreds of different personality traits. All of these traits
can be organized into the broad dimensions referred to as the Five-Factor
Model (John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008). These five broad domains are inclusive;
there does not appear to be any traits of personality that lie outside of the FiveFactor Model. This even applies to traits that you may use to describe yourself.
Table I provides illustrative traits for both poles of the five domains of this model
of personality. A number of the traits that you see in this table may describe
you. If you can think of some other traits that describe yourself, you should be
able to place them somewhere in this table.
nobaproject.com - Personality Disorders
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Table I: Illustrative traits for both poles across Five-Factor Model personality dimensions.
DSM-IV-TR Personality Disorders

When personality traits result in significant distress, social impairment, and/or
occupational impairment, they are considered to be a personality disorder
(American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The authoritative manual for what
constitutes a personality disorder is provided by the American Psychiatric
Associations (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM),
the current version of which is DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000). The DSM provides a
common language and standard criteria for the classification and diagnosis of
mental disorders. This manual is used by clinicians, researchers, health
insurance companies, and policymakers. DSM-IV-TR includes 10 personality
disorders: antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic,
obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal. All 10 of these
personality disorders will be included in the next edition of the diagnostic
manual, DSM-5.
This list of 10 though does not fully cover all of the different ways in which
a personality can be maladaptive. DSM-IV-TR also includes a wastebasket
diagnosis of personality disorder not otherwise specified (PDNOS). This
diagnosis is used when a clinician believes that a patient has a personality
disorder but the traits that constitute this disorder are not well covered by one
of the 10 existing diagnoses. PDNOS is often one of the most frequently used
diagnoses in clinical practice, suggesting that the current list of 10 is not
adequately comprehensive (Widiger & Trull, 2007).
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Description
Each of the 10 DSM-IV-TR (and DSM-5) personality disorders is a constellation
of maladaptive personality traits, rather than just one particular personality
trait (Lynam & Widiger, 2001). In this regard, personality disorders are
syndromes. For example, avoidant personality disorder is a pervasive pattern
of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative
evaluation (APA, 2000), which is a combination of traits from introversion (e.g.,
socially withdrawn, passive, and cautious) and neuroticism (e.g., selfconsciousness, apprehensiveness, anxiousness, and worrisome). Dependent
personality disorder includes submissiveness, clinging behavior, and fears of
separation (APA, 2000), for the most part a combination of traits of neuroticism
(anxious, uncertain, pessimistic, and helpless) and maladaptive agreeableness
(e.g., gullible, guileless, meek, subservient, and self-effacing). Antisocial
personality disorder is, for the most part, a combination of traits from
antagonism (e.g., dishonest, manipulative, exploitative, callous, and merciless)
and low conscientiousness (e.g., irresponsible, immoral, lax, hedonistic, and
rash). See the 1967 movie, Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty, for a nice
portrayal of someone with antisocial personality disorder.
Some of the DSM-IV-TR personality disorders are confined largely to traits
within one of the basic domains of personality. For example, obsessivecompulsive personality disorder is largely a disorder of maladaptive
conscientiousness, including such traits as workaholism, perfectionism,
punctilious, ruminative, and dogged; schizoid is confined largely to traits of
introversion (e.g., withdrawn, cold, isolated, placid, and anhedonic); borderline
personality disorder is largely a disorder of neuroticism, including such traits
as emotionally unstable, vulnerable, overwhelmed, rageful, depressive, and
self-destructive (watch the 1987 movie, Fatal Attraction, starring Glenn Close,
for a nice portrayal of this personality disorder); and histrionic personality
disorder is largely a disorder of maladaptive extraversion, including such traits
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as attention-seeking, seductiveness, melodramatic emotionality, and strong

attachment needs (see the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams play,
Streetcar Named Desire, starring Vivian Leigh, for a nice portrayal of this
personality disorder).
It should be noted though that a complete description of each DSM-IV-TR
personality disorder would typically include at least some traits from other
domains. For example, antisocial personality disorder (or psychopathy) also
includes some traits from low neuroticism (e.g., fearlessness and glib charm)
and extraversion (e.g., excitement-seeking and assertiveness); borderline
includes some traits from antagonism (e.g., manipulative and oppositional) and
low conscientiousness (e.g., rash); and histrionic includes some traits from
antagonism (e.g., vanity) and low conscientiousness (e.g., impressionistic).
Narcissistic personality disorder includes traits from neuroticism (e.g., reactive
anger, reactive shame, and need for admiration), extraversion (e.g.,
exhibitionism and authoritativeness), antagonism (e.g., arrogance, entitlement,
and lack of empathy), and conscientiousness (e.g., acclaim-seeking).
Schizotypal personality disorder includes traits from neuroticism (e.g., social
anxiousness and social discomfort), introversion (e.g., social withdrawal),
unconventionality (e.g., odd, eccentric, peculiar, and aberrant ideas), and
antagonism (e.g., suspiciousness).
The APA currently conceptualizes personality disorders as qualitatively
distinct conditions; distinct from each other and from normal personality
functioning. However, included within an appendix to DSM-5 will be an
alternative view that personality disorders are simply extreme and/or
maladaptive variants of normal personality traits, as suggested herein.
Nevertheless, many leading personality disorder researchers do not hold this
view (e.g., Gunderson, 2010; Hopwood, 2011; Shedler et al., 2010). They suggest
that there is something qualitatively unique about persons suffering from a
personality disorder, usually understood as a form of pathology in sense of self
and interpersonal relatedness that is considered to be distinct from personality
1969
traits (APA, 2012; Skodol, 2012). For example, it has been suggested that
antisocial personality disorder includes impairments in identity (e.g.,
egocentrism), self-direction, empathy, and capacity for intimacy, which are said
to be different from such traits as arrogance, impulsivity, and callousness (APA,
2012).
Validity
It is quite possible that in future revisions of the DSM some of the personality
disorders included in DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 will no longer be included. In fact,
for DSM-5 it was originally proposed that four be deleted. The personality
disorders that were slated for deletion were histrionic, schizoid, paranoid, and
dependent (APA, 2012). The rationale for the proposed deletions was in large
part because they are said to have less empirical support than the diagnoses
that were at the time being retained (Skodol, 2012). There is agreement within
the field with regard to the empirical support for the borderline, antisocial, and
schizotypal personality disorders (Mullins-Sweat, Bernstein, & Widiger, 2012;
Skodol, 2012). However, there is a difference of opinion with respect to the
empirical support for the dependent personality disorder (Bornstein, 2012;
Livesley, 2011; Miller, Widiger, & Campbell, 2010; Mullins-Sweat et al., 2012).
Little is known about the specific etiology for most of the DSM-IV-TR
personality disorders. Because each personality disorder represents a
constellation of personality traits, the etiology for the syndrome will involve a
complex interaction of an array of different neurobiological vulnerabilities and
dispositions with a variety of environmental, psychosocial events. Antisocial
personality disorder, for instance, is generally considered to be the result of an
interaction of genetic dispositions for low anxiousness, aggressiveness,
impulsivity, and/or callousness, with a tough, urban environment, inconsistent
parenting, poor parental role modeling, and/or peer support (Hare, Neumann,
& Widiger, 2012). Borderline personality disorder is generally considered to be
1970
the result of an interaction of a genetic disposition to negative affectivity

interacting with a malevolent, abusive, and/or invalidating family environment
(Hooley, Cole, & Gironde, 2012).
To the extent that one considers the DSM-IV-TR personality disorders to be
maladaptive variants of general personality structure, as described, for
instance, within the Five-Factor Model, there would be a considerable body of
research to support the validity for all of the personality disorders, including
even the histrionic, schizoid, and paranoid. There is compelling multivariate
behavior genetic support with respect to the precise structure of the Five-Factor
Model (e.g., Yamagata et al., 2006), childhood antecedents (Caspi, Roberts, &
Shiner, 2005), universality (Allik, 2005), temporal stability across the lifespan
(Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000), ties with brain structure (DeYoung, Hirsh, Shane,
Papademetris, Rajeevan, & Gray, 2010), and even molecular genetic support for
neuroticism (Widiger, 2009).
Treatment
Personality disorders are relatively unique because they are often egosyntonic; that is, most people are largely comfortable with their selves, with
their characteristic manner of behaving, feeling, and relating to others. As a
result, people rarely seek treatment for their antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic,
paranoid, and/or schizoid personality disorder. People typically lack insight into
the maladaptivity of their personality.
One clear exception though is borderline personality disorder (and perhaps
as well avoidant personality disorder). Neuroticism is the domain of general
personality structure that concerns inherent feelings of emotional pain and
suffering, including feelings of distress, anxiety, depression, self-consciousness,
helplessness, and vulnerability. Persons who have very high elevations on
neuroticism (i.e., persons with borderline personality disorder) experience life
as one of pain and suffering, and they will seek treatment to alleviate this severe
1971
emotional distress. People with avoidant personality may also seek treatment
for their high levels of neuroticism (anxiousness and self-consciousness) and
introversion (social isolation). In contrast, narcissistic individuals will rarely seek
treatment to reduce their arrogance; paranoid persons rarely seek treatment
to reduce their feelings of suspiciousness; and antisocial people rarely (or at
least willfully) seek treatment to reduce their disposition for criminality,
aggression, and irresponsibility.
Nevertheless, maladaptive personality traits will be evident in many
individuals seeking treatment for other mental disorders, such as anxiety,
mood, or substance use. Many of the people with a substance use disorder will
have antisocial personality traits; many of the people with mood disorder will
have borderline personality traits. The prevalence of personality disorders
within clinical settings is estimated to be well above 50% (Torgersen, 2012). As
many as 60% of inpatients within some clinical settings are diagnosed with
borderline personality disorder (APA, 2000). Antisocial personality disorder may
be diagnosed in as many as 50% of inmates within a correctional setting (Hare
et al., 2012). It is estimated that 10% to 15% of the general population meets
criteria for at least one of the 10 DSM-IV-TR personality disorders (Torgersen,
2012), and quite a few more individuals are likely to have maladaptive
personality traits not covered by one of the 10 DSM-IV-TR diagnoses.
The presence of a personality disorder will often have an impact on the
treatment of other mental disorders, typically inhibiting or impairing
responsivity. Antisocial persons will tend to be irresponsible and negligent;
borderline persons can form intensely manipulative attachments to their
therapists; paranoid patients will be unduly suspicious and accusatory;
narcissistic patients can be dismissive and denigrating; and dependent patients
can become overly attached to and feel helpless without their therapists.
1972
It is a misnomer, though, to suggest that personality disorders cannot

themselves be treated. Personality disorders are among the most difficult of
disorders to treat because they involve well-established behaviors that can be
integral to a clients self-image (Millon, 2011). Nevertheless, much has been
written on the treatment of personality disorder (e.g., Beck, Freeman, Davis, &
Associates, 1990; Gunderson & Gabbard, 2000), and there is empirical support
for clinically and socially meaningful changes in response to psychosocial and
pharmacologic treatments (Perry & Bond, 2000). The development of an ideal
or fully healthy personality structure is unlikely to occur through the course of
treatment, but given the considerable social, public health, and personal costs
associated with some of the personality disorders, such as the antisocial and
borderline, even just moderate adjustments in personality functioning can
represent quite significant and meaningful change.
Nevertheless, manualized and/or empirically validated treatment protocols
have been developed for only one personality disorder, borderline (APA, 2001).
It is unclear why specific and explicit treatment manuals have not been
developed for the other personality disorders. This may reflect a regrettable
assumption that personality disorders are unresponsive to treatment. It may
also reflect the complexity of their treatment. As noted earlier, each DSM-IV-TR
1973
disorder is a heterogeneous constellation of maladaptive personality traits. In

fact, a person can meet diagnostic criteria for the antisocial, borderline, schizoid,
schizotypal, narcissistic, and avoidant personality disorders and yet have only
one diagnostic criterion in common. For example, only five of nine features are
necessary for the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder; therefore, two
persons can meet criteria for this disorder and yet have only one feature in
common. In addition, patients meeting diagnostic criteria for one personality
disorder will often meet diagnostic criteria for another. This degree of diagnostic
overlap and heterogeneity of membership hinders tremendously any effort to
identify a specific etiology, pathology, or treatment for a respective personality
disorder as there is so much variation within any particular group of patients
sharing the same diagnosis (Smith & Zapolski, 2009).
Of course, this diagnostic overlap and complexity did not prevent
researchers and clinicians from developing dialectical behavior therapy and
mentalization therapy. A further reason for the weak progress in treatment
development is that, as noted earlier, persons rarely seek treatment for their
personality disorder. It would be difficult to obtain a sufficiently large group of
people with, for instance, narcissistic or obsessivecompulsive disorder to
participate in a treatment outcome study, one receiving the manualized
treatment protocol, the other receiving treatment as usual.
Conclusions
It is evident that all individuals have a personality, as indicated by their
characteristic way of thinking, feeling, behaving, and relating to others. For some
people, these traits result in a considerable degree of distress and/or
impairment, constituting a personality disorder. A considerable body of
research has accumulated to help understand the etiology, pathology, and/or
treatment for some personality disorders (i.e., antisocial, schizotypal,
borderline, dependent, and narcissistic), but not so much for others (e.g.,
1974
histrionic, schizoid, and paranoid). However, researchers and clinicians are now
shifting toward a more dimensional understanding of personality disorders,
wherein each is understood as a maladaptive variant of general personality
structure, thereby bringing to bear all that is known about general personality
functioning to an understanding of these maladaptive variants.
1975
Outside Resources
Web: DSM-5 website discussion of personality disorders
http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision/Pages/PersonalityDisorders.aspx
1. Do you think that any of the personality disorders, or some of their specific
traits, are ever good or useful to have?
2. If someone with a personality disorder commits a crime, what is the right
way for society to respond? For example, does or should meeting diagnostic
criteria for antisocial personality disorder mitigate (lower) a persons
responsibility for committing a crime?
3. Given what you know about personality disorders and the traits that
comprise each one, would you say there is any personality disorder that is
likely to be diagnosed in one gender more than the other? Why or why not?
4. Do you believe that personality disorders can be best understood as a
constellation of maladaptive personality traits, or do you think that there is
something more involved for individuals suffering from a personality
disorder?
5. The authors suggested Clyde Barrow as an example of antisocial personality
disorder and Blanche Dubois for histrionic personality disorder. Can you
think of a person from the media or literature who would have at least some
of the traits of narcissistic personality disorder?
Vocabulary
Antisocial
A pervasive pattern of disregard and violation of the rights of others. These
behaviors may be aggressive or destructive and may involve breaking laws or
rules, deceit or theft.
Avoidant
A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and
hypersensitivity to negative evaluation.
Borderline
A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and
affects, and marked impulsivity.
Dependent
A pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to submissive
and clinging behavior and fears of separation.
Five-Factor Model
Five broad domains or dimensions that are used to describe human personality.
Histrionic
A pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking.
Narcissistic
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration,
and lack of empathy.
Obsessive-compulsive
A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and
mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and
efficiency.
Paranoid
A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are
interpreted as malevolent.
Personality
Characteristic, routine ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others.
Personality disorders
When personality traits result in significant distress, social impairment, and/or
occupational impairment.
Schizoid
A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted
range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings.
Schizotypal
A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute
discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as
perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Personality Disorders by Cristina Crego and
Thomas Widiger is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Dissociative Disorders
Dalena van Heugten - van der Kloet
Maastricht University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
In psychopathology, dissociation happens when thoughts, feelings, and
experiences of our consciousness and memory do not collaborate well with
each other. This chapter provides an overview of dissociative disorders,
including the definitions of dissociation, its origins and competing theories, and
their relation to traumatic experiences and sleep problems.
Learning Objectives
Define the basic terminology and historical origins of dissociative symptoms

and dissociative disorders.
Describe the posttraumatic model of dissociation and the sleep-dissociation

model, and the controversies and debate between these competing
theories.
What is the innovative angle of the sleep-dissociation model?
How can the two models be combined into one conceptual scheme?
Introduction
Think about the last time you were daydreaming. Perhaps it was while you were
driving or attending class. Some portion of your attention was on the activity
at hand, but most of your conscious mind was wrapped up in fantasy. Now
imagine that you could not control your daydreams. What if they intruded your
waking consciousness unannounced, causing you to lose track of reality or
experience the loss of time. Imagine how difficult it would be for you. This is
similar to what people who suffer from dissociative disorders may experience.
Of the many disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), dissociative
disorders rank as among the most puzzling and controversial. Dissociative
disorders encompass an array of symptoms ranging from memory loss
(amnesia) for autobiographical events, to changes in identity and the
experience of everyday reality (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
Is it real?
Lets start with a little history. Multiple personality disorder, or dissociative
identity disorderas it is known nowused to be a mere curiosity. The disorder
was rarely diagnosed until the 1980s. Thats when multiple personality disorder
became an official diagnosis in the DSM-III. From then on, the numbers of
multiples increased rapidly. In the 1990s, there were hundreds of people
diagnosed with multiple personality in every major city in the United States
(Hacking, 1995). How could this epidemic be explained?
One possible explanation might be the media attention that was given to
the disorder. It all started with the book The Three Faces of Eve (Thigpen &
Cleckley, 1957). This book, and later the movie, was one of the first to speak of
multiple personality disorder. However, it wasnt until years later, when the
fictional as told to book of Sybil (Schreiber, 1973) became known worldwide,
nobaproject.com - Dissociative Disorders
1988
that the prototype of what it was like to be a multiple personality was born.
Sybil tells the story of how a clinicianCornelia Wilburunravels the different
personalities of her patient Sybil during a long course of treatment (over 2,500
office hours!). She was one of the first to relate multiple personality to childhood
sexual abuse. Probably, this relation between childhood abuse and dissociation
has fueled the increase of numbers of multiples from that time on. It motivated
therapists to actively seek for clues of childhood abuse in their dissociative
patients. This suited well within the mindset of the 1980s, as childhood abuse
was a sensitive issue then in psychology as well as in politics (Hacking, 1995).
From then on, many movies and books were made on the subject of multiple
personality, and nowadays, we see patients with dissociative identity disorder
as guests visiting the Oprah Winfrey show, as if they were our modern-day circus
acts.
Defining dissociation
The DSM-IV-TR defines dissociation as a disruption in the usually integrated
function of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment
(American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 519). A distinction is often made
between dissociative states and dissociative traits (e.g., Bremner, 2010;
Bremner & Brett, 1997). State dissociation is viewed as a transient symptom,
which lasts for a few minutes or hours (e.g., dissociation during a traumatic
event). Trait dissociation is viewed as an integral aspect of personality.
Dissociative symptoms occur in patients but also in the general population,
like you and me. Therefore, dissociation has commonly been conceptualized
as ranging on a continuum, from nonsevere manifestations of daydreaming to
more severe disturbances typical of dissociative disorders (Bernstein & Putnam,
1986). The dissociative disorders include:
1. Dissociative Amnesia (extensive forgetting typically associated with highly
1989
aversive events);
2. Dissociative Fugue (short-lived reversible amnesia for personal identity,
involving unplanned travel or wandering);
3. Depersonalization Disorder (DPD; feeling as though one is an outside
observer of ones body); and
4. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID; experiencing two or more distinct
identities that recurrently take control over ones behavior) (American
Psychiatric Association, 2000).
Although the concept of dissociation lacks a generally accepted definition,

the Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D)
(Steinberg, 2001) assesses five symptom clusters that encompass key features
of the dissociative disorders:
1. depersonalization,
2. derealization,
3. dissociative amnesia,
4. identity confusion, and
5. identity alteration.
1990
Depersonalization refers to a feeling of detachment or estrangement from

ones self. Imagine that you are outside of your own body, looking at yourself
from a distance as though you were looking at somebody else. Maybe you can
also imagine what it would be like if you felt like a robot, deprived of all feelings.
These are examples of depersonalization. Derealization is defined as an
alteration in the perception of ones surroundings so that a sense of reality of
the external world is lost (Steinberg, 2001, p. 101). Imagine that the world
around you seems as if you are living in a movie, or looking through a fog. These
are examples of derealization. Dissociative amnesia does not refer to
permanent memory loss, similar to the erasure of a computer disk, but rather
to the hypothetical disconnection of memories from conscious inspection
(Steinberg, 2001). Thus, the memory is still there somewhere, but you cannot
reach it. Identity confusion is defined by Steinberg as thoughts and feelings
of uncertainty and conflict a person has related to his or her identity (Steinberg,
2001, p. 101), whereas identity alteration describes the behavioral acting out
of this uncertainty and conflict (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986).
Dissociative disorders are not as uncommon as you would expect. Several
studies in a variety of patient groups show that dissociative disorders are
prevalent in a 4%29% range (Ross, Anderson, Fleischer, & Norton, 1991; Sar,
Tutkun, Alyanak, Bakim, & Baral, 2000; Tutkun et al., 1998. For reviews see:
Foote, Smolin, Kaplan, Legatt, & Lipschitz, 2006; Spiegel et al., 2011). Studies
generally find a much lower prevalence in the general population, with rates
in the order of 1%3% (Lee, Kwok, Hunter, Richards, & David, 2010;
Rauschenberger & Lynn, 1995; Sandberg & Lynn, 1992). Importantly,
dissociative symptoms are not limited to the dissociative disorders. Certain
diagnostic groups, notably patients with borderline personality disorder,
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Rufer,
Fricke, Held, Cremer, & Hand, 2006), and schizophrenia (Allen & Coyne, 1995;
Merckelbach, Campo, Hardy, & Giesbrecht, 2005; Yu et al., 2010) also display
heightened levels of dissociation.
1991
Measuring dissociation
The Dissociative Experiences Scale(DES) (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986; Carlson &
Putnam, 2000; Wright & Loftus, 1999) is the most widely used self-report
measure of dissociation. A self-report measure is a type of in which a person
completes a survey or with or without the help of an investigator. This scale
measures dissociation with items such as (a) Some people sometimes have
the experience of feeling as though they are standing next to themselves or
watching themselves do something, and they actually see themselves as if they
were looking at another person and (b) Some people find that sometimes they
are listening to someone talk, and they suddenly realize that they did not hear
part or all of what was said.
The DES is suitable only as a screening tool. When somebody scores a high
level of dissociation on this scale, this does not necessarily mean that he or she
is suffering from a dissociative disorder. It does, however, give an indication to
investigate the symptoms more extensively. This is usually done with a
structured clinical interview, called the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV
Dissociative Disorders (Steinberg, 1994), which is performed by an experienced
clinician.
Dissociation and Trauma

The most widely held perspective on dissociative symptoms is that they reflect
a defensive response to highly aversive events, mostly trauma experiences
during the childhood years (Bremner, 2010; Spiegel et al., 2011; Spitzer, Vogel,
Barnow, Freyberger, & Grabe, 2007).
One prominent interpretation of the origins of dissociative disorders is that
they are the direct result of exposure to traumatic experiences. We will refer to
this interpretation as the posttraumatic model (PTM). According to the PTM,
dissociative symptoms can best be understood as mental strategies to cope
1992
with or avoid the impact of highly aversive experiences (e.g., Spiegel et al., 2011).
In this view, individuals rely on dissociation to escape from painful memories
(Gershuny & Thayer, 1999). Once they have learned to use this defensive coping
mechanism, it can become automatized and habitual, even emerging in
response to minor stressors (Van der Hart & Horst, 1989). The idea that
dissociation can serve a defensive function can be traced back to Pierre Janet
(1899/1973), one of the first scholars to link dissociation to psychological trauma
(Hacking, 1995).
The PTM casts the clinical observation that dissociative disorders are linked
to a trauma history in straightforward causal terms, that is, one causes the other
(Gershuny & Thayer, 1999). For example, Vermetten and colleagues (Vermetten,
Schmahl, Lindner, Loewenstein, & Bremner, 2006) found that the DID patients
in their study all suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder and concluded
that DID should be conceptualized as an extreme form of early-abuserelated
posttraumatic stress disorder (Vermetten et al., 2006).
Causality and evidence

The empirical evidence that trauma leads to dissociative symptoms is the
subject of intense debate (Kihlstrom, 2005; Bremner, 2010; Giesbrecht, Lynn,
Lilienfeld & Merckelbach, 2010). Three limitations of the PTM will be described
below.
First, the majority of studies reporting links between self-reported trauma
and dissociation are based on cross-sectional designs. This means that the
data are collected at one point in time. When analyzing this type of data, one
can only state whether scoring high on a particular questionnaire (for example,
a trauma questionnaire) is indicative of also scoring high on another
questionnaire (for example, the DES). This makes it difficult to state if one thing
led to another, and therefore if the relation between the two is causal. Thus,
the data that these designs yield do not allow for strong causal claims
1993
(Merckelbach & Muris, 2002).

Second, whether somebody has experienced a trauma is often established
using a questionnaire that the person completes himself or herself. This is called
a self-report measure. Herein lies the problem. Individuals suffering from
dissociative symptoms typically have high fantasy proneness. This is a
character trait to engage in extensive and vivid fantasizing. The tendency to
fantasize a lot may increase the risk at exaggerating or understating self-reports
of traumatic experiences (Merckelbach et al., 2005; Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfeld,
& Merckelbach, 2008).
Third, high dissociative individuals report more cognitive failures than low
dissociative individuals. Cognitive failures are everyday slips and lapses, such
as failing to notice signposts on the road, forgetting appointments, or bumping
into people. People who frequently make such slips and lapses often mistrust
their own cognitive capacities. They also tend to overvalue the hints and cues
provided by others (Merckelbach, Horselenberg, & Schmidt, 2002; Merckelbach,
Muris, Rassin, & Horselenberg, 2000). This makes them vulnerable to suggestive
information, which may distort self-reports, and thus limits conclusions that
can be drawn from studies that rely solely on self-reports to investigate the
trauma-dissociation link (Merckelbach & Jelicic, 2004).
Most important, however, is that the PTM does not tell us how trauma
produces dissociative symptoms. Therefore, workers in the field have searched
for other explanations. They proposed that due to their dreamlike character,
dissociative symptoms such as derealization, depersonalization, and
absorption are associated with sleep-related experiences. They further noted
that sleep-related experiences can explain the relation between highly aversive
events and dissociative symptoms (Giesbrecht et al., 2008; Watson, 2001). In
the following paragraph, the relation between dissociation and sleep will be
discussed.
1994
Dissociation and Sleep

A little history
Researchers (Watson, 2001) have proposed that dissociative symptoms, such
as absorption, derealization, and depersonalization originate from sleep. This
idea is not entirely new.
In the 19th century, double consciousness (or
ddoublement), the historical precursor of dissociative identity disorder (DID;

formerly known as multiple personality disorder), was often described as
somnambulism, which refers to a state of sleepwalking. Patients suffering
from this disorder were referred to as somnambules (Hacking, 1995). Many
19th-century scholars believed that these patients were switching between a
normal state and a somnambulistic state. Hughlings Jackson, a well-known
English neurologist from this era, viewed dissociation as the uncoupling of
normal consciousness, which would result in what he termed the dreamy state
(Meares, 1999). Interestingly, a century later, Levitan (1967) hypothesized that
depersonalization is a compromise state between dreaming and waking
(p.157). Arlow (1966) observed that the dissociation between the experiencing
self and the observing self serves as the basis of depersonalized states,
emphasizing its occurrence, especially in dreams. Likewise, Franklin (1990)
considered dreamlike thoughts, the amnesia one usually has for dreams, and
the lack of orientation of time, place, and person during dreams to be strikingly
similar to the amnesia DID patients often report for their traumas. Related,
Barrett (1994, 1995) described the similarity between dream characters and
alter personalities in DID, with respect to cognitive and sensory abilities,
movement, amnesia, and continuity with normal waking. The many similarities
between dreaming states and dissociative symptoms are also a recurrent theme
in the more recent clinical literature (e.g., Bob, 2004).
1995
Sleep problems in patients with dissociative disorders

Anecdotal evidence supports the idea that sleep disruptions are linked to
dissociation. For example, in patients with depersonalization disorder,
symptoms are worst when they are tired (Simeon & Abugel, 2006). Interestingly,
among participants who report memories of childhood sexual abuse,
experiences of sleep paralysis typically are accompanied by raised levels of
dissociative symptoms (McNally & Clancy, 2005; Abrams, Mulligan, Carleton, &
Asmundson, 2008).
Patients with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and
borderline personality disorderconditions with relatively high levels of
dissociative symptomsas a rule exhibit sleep abnormalities. Recent research
points to fairly specific relationships between certain sleep complaints (e.g.,
insomnia, nightmares) and certain forms of psychopathology (e.g., depression,
posttraumatic stress disorder) (Koffel & Watson, 2009).
Studying the relationship between dissociation and sleep

In the general population, both dissociative symptoms and sleep problems are
highly prevalent. For example, 29 percent of American adults report sleep
problems (National Sleep Foundation, 2005). This allows researchers to study
the relationship between dissociation and sleep not only in patients but also in
the general population. In a pioneering study, Watson (2001) showed that
dissociative symptomsmeasured by the DESare linked to self-reports of
vivid dreams, nightmares, recurrent dreams, and other unusual sleep
phenomena. This relationship has been studied extensively ever since, leading
to three important statements.
1996
First, Watsons (2001) basic findings have been reproduced time and again.
This means that the same results (namely that dissociation and sleep problems
are related) have been found in lots of different studies, using different groups,
and different materials. All lead to the conclusion that unusual sleep
experiences and dissociative symptoms are linked.
Second, the connection between sleep and dissociation is specific. It seems
that unusual sleep phenomena that are difficult to control, including nightmares
and waking dreams, are related to dissociative symptoms, but lucid dreaming
dreams that are controllableare only weakly related to dissociative
symptoms. For example, dream recall frequency was related to dissociation
(Suszek & Kopera, 2005). Individuals who reported three or more nightmares
over a three-week period showed higher levels of dissociation compared to
individuals reporting two nightmares or less (Levin & Fireman, 2002), and a
relation was found between dream intensity and dissociation (Yu et al., 2010).
Third, the sleep-dissociation link is apparent not only in general population
groupspeople such as you and mebut also in patient groups. Accordingly,
one group of researchers reported nightmare disorder in 17 out of 30 DID
patients (Agargun et al., 2003). They also found a 27.5% prevalence of nocturnal
dissociative episodes in patients with dissociative disorders (Agargun et al.,
2001). Another study investigated a group of borderline personality disorder
patients and found that 49% of them suffered from nightmare disorder.
Moreover, the patients with nightmare disorder displayed higher levels of
dissociation than patients not suffering from nightmare disorder (Semiz,
Basoglu, Ebrinc, & Cetin, 2008). Additionally, Ross (2011) found that patients
suffering from DID reported higher rates of sleepwalking compared to a group
of psychiatric outpatients and a sample from the general population.
To sum up, there seems to be a strong relationship between dissociative
symptoms and unusual sleep experiences that is evident in a range of
phenomena, including waking dreams, nightmares, and sleepwalking.
1997
Inducing and reducing sleep problems

Sleep problems can be induced in healthy participants by keeping them awake
for a long duration of time. This is called sleep deprivation. If dissociative
symptoms are fueled by a labile sleep-wake cycle, then sleep loss would be
expected to intensify dissociative symptoms. Some evidence that this might
work was already found in 2001, when soldiers who underwent a U.S. Army
survival training, which included sleep deprivation, showed increases in
dissociative symptoms (Morgan et al., 2001). Other researchers conducted a
study that tracked 25 healthy volunteers during one day and one night of sleep
loss. They found that dissociative symptoms increased substantially after one
night of sleep loss (Giesbrecht, Smeets, Leppink, Jelicic, & Merckelbach, 2007).
To further examine the causal link between dissociative experiences and
sleep, we (van der Kloet, Giesbrecht, Lynn, Merckelbach, & de Zutter, 2011)
investigated the relationship between unusual sleep experiences and
dissociation in a patient group at a private clinic. They completed questionnaires
upon arrival at the clinic and again when they departed eight weeks later. During
their stay, they followed a strict program designed to improve sleep problems.
And it worked! In most patients, sleep quality was improved after eight weeks.
We found a robust link between sleep experiences and dissociative symptoms
and determined that sleep normalization was accompanied by a reduction in
dissociative symptoms.
An exciting interpretation of the link between dissociative symptoms and
unusual sleep phenomena (see also, Watson, 2001) may be this: A disturbed
sleepwake cycle may lead to dissociative symptoms. However, we should be
cautious. Although studies support a causal arrow leading from sleep disruption
to dissociative symptoms, the associations between sleep and dissociation may
be more complex. For example, causal links may be bi-directional, such that
dissociative symptoms may lead to sleep problems and vice versa, and other
psychopathology may interfere in the link between sleep and dissociative
1998
symptoms (van der Kloet et al., 2011).
Implications and Conclusions

The sleep-dissociation model offers a fresh and exciting perspective on
dissociative symptoms. This model may seem remote from the PTM. However,
both models can be integrated in a single conceptual scheme in which traumatic
childhood experiences may lead to disturbed sleep patterns, which may be the
final common pathway to dissociative symptoms. Accordingly, the sleepdissociation model may explain both: (a) how traumatic experiences disrupt
the sleepwake cycle and increase vulnerability to dissociative symptoms, and
(b) why dissociation, trauma, fantasy proneness, and cognitive failures overlap.
Future studies can also discern what characteristic sleep disruptions in the
sleepwake cycle are most reliably related to dissociative disorders, and then
establish training programs, including medication regimens, to address these
problems. This would constitute an entirely novel and exciting approach to the
treatment of dissociative symptoms.
In closing, the sleep-dissociation model can serve as a framework for studies
that address a wide range of fascinating questions about dissociative symptoms
and disorders. We now have good reason to be confident that research on sleep
and dissociative symptoms will inform psychiatry, clinical science, and
psychotherapeutic practice in meaningful ways in the years to come.
1999
Outside Resources
Book: Schreiber, F. R. (1973). Sybil. Chicago: Regnery.
Web: Video depicting the controversy regarding the existence of DID and
show you some debate between clinicians and researchers on the topics of
brain imaging, recovered memories, and false memories. Brain scan
switching on command.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhM0xp5vXqY
brain imaging, recovered memories, and false memories. False memory
syndrome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4NZ7_Hn-rI
brain imaging, recovered memories, and false memories. Revisiting the
memory wars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcFRZsD8DLk
Web: Video illustrating patients suffering from DID. Paula- a stereotype

picture of the disorder, with the patients switching between personality
states.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weLvkZGr9Tw
Web: Video illustrating patients suffering from DID. The woman with seven
personalities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TlYGivBGYE
1. Why are dissociation and trauma related to each other?
2. How is dissociation related to sleep problems?
3. Are dissociative symptoms induced or merely increased by sleep
disturbances?
4. Do you have any ideas regarding treatment possibilities for dissociative
disorders?
5. Does DID really exist?
Vocabulary
Amnesia
The loss of memory.
Anxiety disorder
A group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) classification system where anxiety is central to the
persons dysfunctioning. Typical symptoms include excessive rumination,
worrying, uneasiness, apprehension, and fear about future uncertainties either
based on real or imagined events. These symptoms may affect both physical
and psychological health. The anxiety disorders are subdivided into panic
disorder, specific phobia, social phobia, posttraumatic stress disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.
Borderline Personality Disorder
This personality disorder is defined by a chronic pattern of instability. This
instability manifests itself in interpersonal relationships, mood, self-image, and
behavior that can interfere with social functioning or work. It may also cause
grave emotional distress.
Cognitive failures
Every day slips and lapses, also called absentmindedness.
Consciousness
The quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within
oneself. It has been defined as the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness,
having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind.
Cross-sectional design
Research method that involves observation of all of a population, or a
representative subset, at one specific point in time.
Defensive coping mechanism
An unconscious process, which protects an individual from unacceptable or
painful ideas, impulses, or memories.
DES
Dissociative Experiences Scale.
DID
Dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder,
is at the far end of the dissociative disorder spectrum. It is characterized by at
least two distinct, and dissociated personality states. These personality states
or alters - alternately control a persons behavior. The sufferer therefore
experiences significant memory impairment for important information not
explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
Dissociation
A disruption in the usually integrated function of consciousness, memory,
identity, or perception of the environment.
Fantasy proneness
The tendency to extensive fantasizing or daydreaming.
General population
A sample of people representative of the average individual in our society.
Insomnia
A sleep disorder in which there is an inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep as
long as desired. Symptoms also include waking up too early, experience many
awakenings during the night, and not feeling rested during the day.
Lucid dreams
Any dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming.
Mood disorder
A group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) classification system where a disturbance in the persons
mood is the primary dysfunction. Mood disorders include major depressive
disorder, bipolar disorder, dysthymic and cyclothymic disorder.
Nightmares
An unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response
from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety, and great
sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort,
psychological or physical terror. Sufferers usually awaken in a state of distress
and may be unable to return to sleep for a prolonged period of time.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This anxiety disorder is characterized by intrusive thoughts (obsessions), by
repetitive behaviors (compulsions), or both. Obsessions produce uneasiness,
fear, or worry. Compulsions are then aimed at reducing the associated anxiety.
Examples of compulsive behaviors include excessive washing or cleaning;
repeated checking; extreme hoarding; and nervous rituals, such as switching
the light on and off a certain number of times when entering a room. Intrusive
thoughts are often sexual, violent, or religious in nature...
Prevalence
The number of cases of a specific disorder present in a given population at a
certain time.
PTM
Post-traumatic model of dissociation.
Recurrent dreams
The same dream narrative or dreamscape is experienced over different
occasions of sleep.
Schizophrenia
This mental disorder is characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and
emotional responses. Symptoms include auditory hallucinations, paranoid or
bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking. Sufferers from this
disorder experience grave dysfunctions in their social functioning and in work.
SCID-D
Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders.
Self-report measure
A type of psychological test in which a person fills out a survey or questionnaire
with or without the help of an investigator.
Sleep deprivation
A sufficient lack of restorative sleep over a cumulative period so as to cause
physical or psychiatric symptoms and affect routine performances of tasks.
Sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis occurs when the normal paralysis during REM sleep manifests
when falling asleep or awakening, often accompanied by hallucinations of
danger or a malevolent presence in the room.
Sleep-wake cycle
A daily rhythmic activity cycle, based on 24-hour intervals, that is exhibited by
many organisms.
State
When a symptom is acute, or transient, lasting from a few minutes to a few
hours.
Trait
When a symptom forms part of the personality or character.
Trauma
An event or situation that causes great distress and disruption, and that creates
substantial, lasting damage to the psychological development of a person.
Vivid dreams
A dream that is very clear, where the individual can remember the dream in
great detail.
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Autism: Insights from the

Study of the Social Brain
Kevin A. Pelphrey
Yale University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suffer from a profound social
disability. Social neuroscience is the study of the parts of the brain that support
social interactions or the social brain. This chapter provides an overview of
ASD and focuses on understanding how social brain dysfunction leads to ASD.
Our increasing understanding of the social brain and its dysfunction in ASD will
allow us to better identify the genes that cause ASD and will help us to create
and pick out treatments to better match individuals. Because social brain
systems emerge in infancy, social neuroscience can help us to figure out how
to diagnose ASD even before the symptoms of ASD are clearly present. This is
a hopeful time because social brain systems remain malleable well into
adulthood and thus open to creative new interventions that are informed by
state-of-the-art science.
Learning Objectives
Know the basic symptoms of ASD.
Distinguish components of the social brain and understand their

dysfunction in ASD.
Appreciate how social neuroscience may facilitate the diagnosis and

treatment of ASD.
Defining Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that usually
emerges in the first three years and persists throughout the individuals life.
Though the key symptoms of ASD fall into three general categories (see left),
each person with ASD exhibits symptoms in these domains in different ways
and to varying degrees. This phenotypic heterogeneity reflects the high degree
of variability in the genes underlying ASD (Geschwind & Levitt, 2007). Though
we have identified genetic differences associated with individual cases of ASD,
each accounts for only a small number of the actual cases, suggesting that no
single genetic cause will apply in the majority of people with ASD. There is
currently no biological test for ASD.
Since Kanner first described ASD in 1943, important commonalities in

symptom presentation have been used to compile criteria for the diagnosis of
ASD. These diagnostic criteria have evolved during the past 70 years and
continue to evolve (e.g., see the recent changes to the diagnostic criteria on the
American Psychiatric Associations website, yet impaired social functioning
nobaproject.com - Autism: Insights from the Study of the Social Brain
2019
remains a required symptom for an ASD diagnosis. Deficits in social functioning

are present in varying degrees for simple behaviors such as eye contact, and
complex behaviors like navigating the give and take of a group conversation for
individuals of all functioning levels (i.e. high or low IQ). Moreover, difficulties
with social information processing occur in both visual (e.g., Pelphrey et al.,
2002) and auditory (e.g., Dawson, Meltzoff, Osterling, Rinaldi, & Brown, 1998)
sensory modalities.
2020
2021
Figure 1. The red lines indicate the scan paths (collection of eye movements) used by
people with (right column) and without (left column) autism to explore faces. Modified from
Pelphrey et al., (2002).
Consider the results of an eye tracking study in which Pelphrey and

colleagues (2002) observed that individuals with autism did not make use of
the eyes when judging facial expressions of emotion (see right panels of Figure
1). While repetitive behaviors or language deficits are seen in other disorders
(e.g., obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific language impairment,
respectively), basic social deficits of this nature are unique to ASD. Onset of the
social deficits appears to precede difficulties in other domains (Osterling,
Dawson, & Munson, 2002) and may emerge as early as 6 months of age (Maestro
et al., 2002).
Defining the Social Brain

Within the past few decades, research has elucidated specific brain circuits that
support perception of humans and other species. This social perception refers
to the initial stages in the processing of information that culminates in the
accurate analysis of the dispositions and intentions of other individuals (Allison,
Puce, & McCarthy, 2000). Basic social perception is a critical building block for
more sophisticated social behaviors, such as thinking about the motives and
emotions of others. Brothers (1990) first suggested the notion of a social brain,
a set of interconnected neuroanatomical structures that process social
information, enabling the recognition of other individuals and the evaluation
their mental states (e.g., intentions, dispositions, desires, and beliefs).
2022
Current Understanding of Social Perception in ASD

The social brain is of great research interest because the social difficulties
characteristic of ASD are thought to relate closely to the functioning of this brain
network. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related
potentials (ERP) are complementary brain imaging methods used to study
activity in the brain across the lifespan. Each method measures a distinct facet
of brain activity and contributes unique information to our understanding of
brain function.
FMRI uses powerful magnets to measure the levels of oxygen within the
brain, which vary according to changes in neural activity. As the neurons in
specific brain regions work harder, they require more oxygen. FMRI detects
the brain regions that exhibit a relative increase in blood flow (and oxygen levels)
while people listen to or view social stimuli in the MRI scanner. The areas of
the brain most crucial for different social processes are thus identified, with
spatial information being accurate to the millimeter.
2023
In contrast, ERP provides direct measurements of the firing of groups of

neurons in the cortex. Non-invasive sensors on the scalp record the small
electrical currents created by this neuronal activity while the subject views
stimuli or listens to specific kinds of information. While fMRI provides
information about where brain activity occurs, ERP specifies when by detailing
the timing of processing at the millisecond pace at which it unfolds.
ERP and fMRI are complementary, with fMRI providing excellent spatial
resolution and ERP offering outstanding temporal resolution. Together, this
information is critical to understanding the nature of social perception in ASD.
To date, the most thoroughly investigated areas of the social brain in ASD are
the superior temporal sulcus (STS), which underlies the perception and
interpretation of biological motion, and the fusiform gyrus (FG), which supports
face perception. Heightened sensitivity to biological motion (for humans,
motion such as walking) serves an essential role in the development of humans
and other highly social species. Emerging in the first days of life, the ability to
detect biological motion helps to orient vulnerable young to critical sources of
sustenance, support, and learning, and develops independent of visual
experience with biological motion (e.g., Simion, Regolin, & Bulf, 2008). This
inborn life detector serves as a foundation for the subsequent development
of more complex social behaviors (Johnson, 2006).
From very early in life, children with ASD display reduced sensitivity to
biological motion (Klin, Lin, Gorrindo, Ramsay, & Jones, 2009). Individuals with
ASD have reduced activity in the STS during biological motion perception.
Similarly, people at increased genetic risk for ASD but who do not develop
symptoms of the disorder (i.e. unaffected siblings of individuals with ASD) show
increased activity in this region, which is hypothesized to be a compensatory
mechanism to offset genetic vulnerability (Kaiser et al., 2010).
2024
In typical development, preferential attention to faces and the ability to

recognize individual faces emerge in the first days of life (e.g., Goren, Sarty, &
Wu, 1975). The special way in which the brain responds to faces usually emerges
by three months of age (e.g., de Haan, Johnson, & Halit, 2003) and continues
throughout the lifespan (e.g., Bentin et al., 1996). Children with ASD, however,
tend to show decreased attention to human faces by six to 12 months (Osterling
& Dawson, 1994). Children with ASD also show reduced activity in the FG when
viewing faces (e.g., Schultz et al., 2000). Slowed processing of faces (McPartland,
Dawson, Webb, Panagiotides, & Carver, 2004) is a characteristic of people with
ASD that is shared by parents of children with ASD (Dawson, Webb, &
McPartland, 2005) and infants at increased risk for developing ASD because of
having a sibling with ASD (McCleery, Akshoomoff, Dobkins, & Carver, 2009).
Behavioral and attentional differences in face perception and recognition are
evident in children and adults with ASD as well (e.g., Hobson, 1986).
Exploring Diversity in ASD

Because of the limited quality of the behavioral methods used to diagnose ASD
and current clinical diagnostic practice, which permits similar diagnoses despite
distinct symptom profiles (McPartland, Webb, Keehn, & Dawson, 2011), it is
possible that the group of children currently referred to as having ASD may
actually represent different syndromes with distinct causes. Examination of the
social brain may well reveal diagnostically meaningful subgroups of children
with ASD. Measurements of the where and when of brain activity during
social processing tasks provide reliable sources of the detailed information
needed to profile children with ASD with greater accuracy. These profiles, in
turn, may help to inform treatment of ASD by helping us to match specific
treatments to specific profiles.
2025
The integration of imaging methods is critical for this endeavor. Using face
perception as an example, the combination of fMRI and ERP could identify who,
of those individuals with ASD, shows anomalies in the FG and then determine
the stage of information processing at which these impairments occur. Because
different processing stages often reflect discrete cognitive processes, this level
of understanding could encourage treatments that address specific processing
deficits at the neural level.
For example, differences observed in the early processing stages might
reflect problems with low-level visual perception, while later differences would
indicate problems with higher-order processes, such as emotion recognition.
These same principles can be applied to the broader network of social brain
regions and, combined with measures of behavioral functioning, could offer a
comprehensive profile of brain-behavior performance for a given individual. A
fundamental goal for this kind of subgroup approach is to improve the ability
to tailor treatments to the individual.
Another objective is to improve the power of other scientific tools. Most
studies of individuals with ASD compare groups of individuals, for example,
individuals on with ASD compared to typically developing peers. However,
studies have also attempted to compare children across the autism spectrum
by group according to differential diagnosis (e.g., Aspergers disorder versus
autistic disorder), or by other behavioral or cognitive characteristics (e.g.,
cognitively able versus intellectually disabled or anxious versus non-anxious).
Yet, the power of a scientific study to detect these kinds of significant,
meaningful, individual differences is only as strong as the accuracy of the factor
used to define the compared groups.
The identification of distinct subgroups within the autism spectrum
according to information about the brain would allow for a more accurate and
detailed exposition of the individual differences seen in those with ASD. This is
especially critical for the success of investigations into the genetic basis of ASD.
As mentioned before, the genes discovered thus far account for only a small
2026
portion of ASD cases. If meaningful, quantitative distinctions in individuals with

ASD are identified; a more focused examination into the genetic causes specific
to each subgroup could then be pursued. Moreover, distinct findings from
neuroimaging,
or
biomarkers,
can
help
guide
genetic
research.
Endophenotypes, or characteristics that are not immediately available to

observation but that reflect an underlying genetic liability for disease, expose
the most basic components of a complex psychiatric disorder and are more
stable across the lifespan than observable behavior (Gottesman & Shields,
1973). By describing the key characteristics of ASD in these objective ways,
neuroimaging research will facilitate identification of genetic contributions to
ASD.
Atypical Brain Development Before the Emergence of

Atypical Behavior
Because autism is a developmental disorder, it is particularly important to
diagnose and treat ASD early in life. Early deficits in attention to biological
motion, for instance, derail subsequent experiences in attending to higher level
social information, thereby driving development toward more severe
dysfunction and stimulating deficits in additional domains of functioning, such
as language development. The lack of reliable predictors of the condition during
the first year of life has been a major impediment to the effective treatment of
ASD. Without early predictors, and in the absence of a firm diagnosis until
behavioral symptoms emerge, treatment is often delayed for two or more years,
eclipsing a crucial period in which intervention may be particularly successful
in ameliorating some of the social and communicative impairments seen in ASD.
In response to the great need for sensitive (able to identify subtle cases) and
specific (able to distinguish autism from other disorders) early indicators of
ASD, such as biomarkers, many research groups from around the world have
been studying patterns of infant development using prospective longitudinal
2027
studies of infant siblings of children with ASD and a comparison group of infant
siblings without familial risks. Such designs gather longitudinal information
about developmental trajectories across the first three years of life for both
groups followed by clinical diagnosis at approximately 36 months.
These studies are problematic in that many of the social features of autism
do not emerge in typical development until after 12 months of age, and it is not
certain that these symptoms will manifest during the limited periods of
observation involved in clinical evaluations or in pediatricians offices.
Moreover, across development, but especially during infancy, behavior is widely
variable and often unreliable, and at present, behavioral observation is the only
means to detect symptoms of ASD and to confirm a diagnosis. This is quite
problematic because, even highly sophisticated behavioral methods, such as
eye tracking (see Figure 1), do not necessarily reveal reliable differences in
infants with ASD (Ozonoff et al., 2010). However, measuring the brain activity
associated with social perception can detect differences that do not appear in
behavior until much later. The identification of biomarkers utilizing the imaging
methods we have described offers promise for earlier detection of atypical
social development.
ERP measures of brain response predict subsequent development of autism
in infants as young as six months old who showed normal patterns of visual
fixation (as measured by eye tracking) (Elsabbagh et al., 2012). This suggests
the great promise of brain imaging for earlier recognition of ASD. With earlier
detection, treatments could move from addressing existing symptoms to
preventing their emergence by altering the course of abnormal brain
development and steering it toward normality.
2028
Hope for Improved Outcomes

The brain imaging research described above offers hope for the future of ASD
treatment. Many of the functions of the social brain demonstrate significant
plasticity, meaning that their functioning can be affected by experience over
time. In contrast to theories that suggest difficulty processing complex
information or communicating across large expanses of cortex (Minshew &
Williams, 2007), this malleability of the social brain is a positive prognosticator
for the development of treatment. The brains of people with ASD are not wired
to process optimally social information. But this does not mean that these
systems are irretrievably broken. Given the observed plasticity of the social
brain, remediation of these difficulties may be possible with appropriate and
timely intervention.
2029
Outside Resources
Web: American Psychiatric Associations website for the 5th edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
http://www.dsm5.org
Web: Autism Science Foundation - organization supporting autism research
by providing funding and other assistance to scientists and organizations
conducting, facilitating, publicizing and disseminating autism research. The
organization also provides information about autism to the general public
and serves to increase awareness of autism spectrum disorders and the
needs of individuals and families affected by autism.
http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/
Web: Autism Speaks - Autism science and advocacy organization
http://www.autismspeaks.org/
1. How can neuroimaging inform our understanding of the causes of autism?
2. What are the ways in which neuroimaging, including fMRI and ERP, may
benefit efforts to diagnosis and treat autism?
3. How can an understanding of the social brain help us to understand ASD?
4. What are the core symptoms of ASD, and why is the social brain of particular
interest?
5. What are some of the components of the social brain, and what functions
do they serve?
Vocabulary
Endophenotypes
A characteristic that reflects a genetic liability for disease and a more basic
component of a complex clinical presentation. Endophenotypes are less
developmentally malleable than overt behavior.
Event-related potentials (ERP)

Measures the firing of groups of neurons in the cortex. As a person views or
listens to specific types of information, neuronal activity creates small electrical
currents that can be recorded from non-invasive sensors placed on the scalp.
ERP provides excellent information about the timing of processing, clarifying
brain activity at the millisecond pace at which it unfolds.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Entails the use of powerful magnets to measure the levels of oxygen within the
brain that vary with changes in neural activity. That is, as the neurons in specific
brain regions work harder when performing a specific task, they require more
oxygen. By having people listen to or view social percepts in an MRI scanner,
fMRI specifies the brain regions that evidence a relative increase in blood flow.
In this way, fMRI provides excellent spatial information, pinpointing with
millimeter accuracy, the brain regions most critical for different social processes.
Social brain
The set of neuroanatomical structures that allows us to understand the actions
and intentions of other people.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Autism: Insights from the Study of the Social
Brain by Kevin A. Pelphrey is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Psychopathy
Chris Patrick
Florida State University
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Psychopathy (or psychopathic personality) is a topic that has long fascinated
the public at large as well as scientists and clinical practitioners. However, it
has also been subject to considerable confusion and scholarly debate over the
years. This chapter reviews alternative conceptions of psychopathy that have
been proposed historically, and reviews major instruments currently in use for
the assessment of psychopathic tendencies in clinical and nonclinical samples.
An integrative theoretic framework, the Triarchic model, is presented that
provides a basis for reconciling differing historic conceptions and assessment
approaches. Implications of the model for thinking about causal hypotheses
of psychopathy, and for resolving longstanding points of contention in the field,
are discussed.
Learning Objectives
Learn about Cleckleys classic account of psychopathy, presented in his book

The Mask of Sanity, along with other historic conceptions.
Compare and contrast differing inventories currently in use for assessing

psychopathy in differing samples (e.g., adults and younger individuals,
within clinical-forensic and community settings).
Become familiar with the Triarchic model of psychopathy and its constituent
constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition.
Learn about alternative theories regarding the causal origins of

psychopathy.
Consider how longstanding matters of debate regarding the nature,

definition, and origins of psychopathy can be addressed from the
perspective of the Triarchic model.
Introduction
For many in the public at large, the term psychopath conjures up images of
ruthless homicidal maniacs and criminal masterminds. This impression is
reinforced on an ongoing basis by depictions of psychopathic individuals in
popular books and films, such as No Country for Old Men, Silence of the Lambs,
and Catch Me if You Can, and by media accounts of high-profile criminals ranging
from Charles Manson to Jeffrey Dahmer to Bernie Madoff. However, the concept
of psychopathy (psychopathic personality) held by experts in the mental
health field differs sharply from this common public perceptionemphasizing
distinct dispositional tendencies as opposed to serious criminal acts of one sort
or another. This chapter reviews historic and contemporary conceptions of
psychopathy as a clinical disorder, describes methods for assessing it, and
discusses how a new conceptual model can help to address key questions
regarding its nature and origins that have long been debated. It will be seen
from this review that the topic remains no less fascinating or socially relevant
when considered from a clinicalscientific perspective.
Historic Conceptions
Early writers characterized psychopathy as an atypical form of mental illness
in which rational faculties appeared normal but everyday behavior and social
relationships are markedly disrupted. French physician Philippe Pinel
(1806/1962) documented cases of what he called manie sans delire (insanity
without delirium), in which dramatic episodes of recklessness and aggression
occurred in individuals not suffering from obvious clouding of the mind. German
psychiatrist Julius Koch (1888) introduced the disease-oriented term
psychopathic to convey the idea that conditions of this type had a strong
constitutional-heritable basis. In his seminal book The Mask of Sanity, which
focused on patients committed for hospital treatment, American psychiatrist
nobaproject.com - Psychopathy
2041
Hervey Cleckley (1941/1976) described psychopathy as a deep-rooted

emotional pathology concealed by an outward appearance of good mental
health. In contrast with other psychiatric patients, psychopathic individuals
present as confident, sociable, and well adjusted. However, their underlying
disorder reveals itself over time through their actions and attitudes. To facilitate
identification of psychopathic individuals in clinical settings, Cleckley provided
16 diagnostic criteria distilled from his clinical case summaries, encompassing
indicators of apparent psychological stability (e.g., charm and intelligence,
absence of nervousness) along with symptoms of behavioral deviancy (e.g.,
irresponsibility, failure to plan) and impaired affect and social connectedness
(e.g., absence of remorse, deceptiveness, inability to love).
Notably, Cleckley did not characterize psychopathic patients as inherently
cruel, violent, or dangerous. Although some engaged in repetitive violent acts,
more often the harm they caused was nonphysical and the product of impulsive
self-centeredness as opposed to viciousness. Indeed, Cleckleys case histories
included examples of successful psychopaths who ascended to careers as
professors, medical doctors, or businessmen, along with examples of more
aimless dysfunctional types. In contrast with this, other writers from Cleckleys
time who were concerned with criminal expressions of psychopathy placed
greater emphasis on symptoms of emotional coldness, aggression, and
predatory victimization. For example, McCord and McCord (1964) described
the condition in more generally pathologic terms, highlighting guiltlessness
(lack of remorse) and lovelessness (lack of attachment capacity) as central
defining features.
Cleckleys conception served as a referent for the diagnosis of psychopathy
in the first two editions of the official American psychiatric nosology, the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, a
dramatic shift occurred in the third edition of the DSM, with the introduction
of behaviorally oriented symptom definitions for most disorders to address
longstanding problems of reliability. The Cleckley-oriented conception of
2042
psychopathy in prior editions was replaced by antisocial personality disorder

(ASPD), defined by specific indicants of behavioral deviancy in childhood (e.g.,
fighting, lying, stealing, truancy) continuing into adulthood (manifested as
repeated rulebreaking, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, aggressiveness, etc.).
Concerns with this new conception were expressed by psychopathy experts,
who noted that ASPD provided limited coverage of interpersonal-affective
symptoms considered essential to psychopathy (e.g., charm, deceitfulness,
selfishness, shallow affect; Hare, 1983). Nonetheless, ASPD was retained in
much the same form in the fourth edition of the DSM (DSM-IV; American
Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000), and will remain unchanged in the
upcoming fifth edition, although a new dimensional-trait approach to
characterizing personality pathology will be included as a supplemental model
in this new edition (Strickland, Drislane, Lucy, Krueger, & Patrick, in press).
Contemporary assessment methods

Modern approaches to the assessment of psychopathy, consisting of rating
instruments and self-report scales, reflect the foregoing historic conceptions
to differing degrees.
Psychopathy in adult criminal offenders

The most widely used instrument for diagnosing psychopathy in correctional
and forensic settings is the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003),
which comprises 20 items rated on the basis of interview and file-record
information. The items of the PCL-R effectively capture the interpersonalaffective deficits and behavioral deviance features identified by Cleckley, but
include only limited, indirect coverage of positive adjustment features. The
manual for the PCL-R recommends the use of a cutoff score of 30 out of 40 for
assigning a diagnosis of psychopathy. High overall PCL-R scores are correlated
2043
with impulsive and aggressive tendencies, low empathy, Machiavellianism, lack

of social connectedness, and persistent violent offending. Given these
correlates, and the omission of positive adjustment indicators, psychopathy as
assessed by the PCL-R appears more similar to the predatory-aggressive
conception of McCord and McCord than to Cleckleys conception.
Although the PCL-R was developed to index psychopathy as a unitary
condition, structural analyses of its items reveal distinct interpersonal-affective
and antisocial deviance subdimensions (factors). Although moderately (about
.5) correlated, these factors show contrasting relations with external criterion
measures. The interpersonal-affective factor relates to indices of narcissism,
low empathy, and proactive aggression (Hare, 2003), and to some extent (after
controlling for its overlap with the antisocial factor) adaptive tendencies such
as high social assertiveness and low fear, distress, and depression (Hicks &
Patrick, 2006). High scores on the antisocial deviance factor, by contrast, are
associated mainly with maladaptive tendencies and behaviors, including
impulsiveness, sensation seeking, alienation and mistrust, reactive aggression,
early and persistent antisocial deviance, and substance-related problems.
Psychopathy in noncriminal adults

Psychopathy has most typically been assessed in noncriminal adult samples
using self-report-based measures. Older measures of this type emphasized the
antisocial deviancy component of psychopathy with limited coverage of
interpersonal-affective features (Hare, 2003). Some newer instruments provide
more balanced coverage of both.
One example is the now widely used
Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), which was
developed to index personality dispositions embodied within historic
conceptions of psychopathy. Its current revised form (PPI-R; Lilienfeld & Widows,
2005) contains 154 items, organized into eight facet scales.
2044
Like the items of the PCL-R, the subscales of the PPI cohere around two
distinguishable factors: a fearless dominance (FD) factor reflecting social
potency, stress immunity, and fearlessness, and a self-centered impulsivity (SCI)
factor reflecting egocentricity, exploitativeness, hostile rebelliousness, and lack
of planning. However, unlike the factors of the PCL-R, the two PPI factors are
uncorrelated, and thus even more distinct in their external correlates. Scores
on PPI-FD are associated with indices of positive psychological adjustment (e.
g., higher well-being; lower anxiety and depression) and measures of narcissism
(low) empathy, and thrill/adventure seeking (Benning, Patrick, Blonigen, Hicks,
& Iacono, 2005). Given this, PPI-FD has been interpreted as capturing a more
adaptive expression of dispositional fearlessness (i.e., boldness; see below)
than the interpersonal-affective factor of the PCL-Rwhich can be viewed as
tapping a more pathologic (antagonistic or mean) expression of fearlessness.
Scores on PPI-SCI, like Factor 2 of the PCL-R, are associated with multiple
indicators of deviancyincluding impulsivity and aggressiveness, child and
adult antisocial behavior, substance abuse problems, heightened distress and
dysphoria, and suicidal ideation.
Psychopathy in child and adolescent clinical samples

Different inventories exist for assessing psychopathic tendencies in children
and adolescents. The best-known consist of rating-based measures developed,
using the PCL-R as a referent, to identify psychopathic individuals among youth
convicted of crimes or referred for treatment of conduct problems. The
emphasis in work of this type has been on the importance of psychopathic
features for predicting greater severity and persistence of conduct problems.
Termed callous-unemotional traits, these features encompass low empathy,
deficient remorse or guilt, shallow affect, and lack of concern about
performance in school and other contexts (Frick & Moffitt, 2010).
2045
One extensively researched measure for assessing psychopathic tendencies

in youth is the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick & Marsee, 2006),
used with clinic-referred children ages 6 through 13. The APSD includes 20 items
completed by parents or teachers. As with the PCL-R and PPI, the items of the
APSD tap two distinct factors: a Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits factor, reflecting
emotional insensitivity and disregard for others; and an Impulsive/Conduct
Problems (I/CP) factor, reflecting impulsivity, behavioral deviancy, and inflated
self-importance. Children high on the I/CP factor alone show below-average
intelligence, heightened emotional responsiveness to stressors, and angry
(reactive) aggression (Frick & Marsee, 2006). By contrast, children high on both
APSD factors show average or above-average intelligence, low reported levels
of anxiety and nervousness, reduced reactivity to stressful events, and
preference for activities entailing novelty and risk. They also learn less readily
from punishment and engage in high levels of premeditated as well as reactive
aggression and exhibit more persistent violent behavior across time. Given the
documented importance of CU traits in moderating the expression of conduct
disorder, the upcoming fifth edition of the DSM will include criteria for
designating a distinct CU variant of child conduct disorder (Frick & Moffitt, 2010).
Core
ingredients
of
psychopathy:
disinhibition,
boldness, and meanness

The foregoing material highlights the fact that historic conceptions of
psychopathy and available instruments for assessing it place differing emphasis
on different symptomatic features. This had contributed to longstanding
disagreements among scholars about what psychopathy entails and what
causes it. A theoretic conceptualization formulated recently to reconcile
alternative perspectives is the Triarchic model (Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger,
2009). This model conceives of psychopathy as encompassing three separable
symptomatic componentsdisinhibition, boldness, and meannessthat can
2046
be viewed as thematic building blocks for differing conceptions of psychopathy.
Definitions
Disinhibition as described in the Triarchic model encompasses tendencies
toward impulsiveness, weak behavioral restraint, hostility and mistrust, and
difficulties in regulating emotion. Meanness entails deficient empathy, lack of
affiliative capacity, contempt toward others, predatory exploitativeness, and
empowerment through cruelty and destructiveness. Referents for disinhibition
and meanness include the finding of distinct I/CP and CU factors in the child
psychopathy literature and corresponding evidence for distinct disinhibitory
and callous-aggression factors underlying impulse control (externalizing)
problems in adults (Krueger, Markon, Patrick, Benning, & Kramer, 2007). The
third construct in the model, Boldness,encompasses dominance, social
assurance, emotional resiliency, and venturesomeness. Referents for this
construct include the mask elements of Cleckleys conception, Lykkens (1995)
low fear theory of psychopathy, the FD factor of the PPI, and developmental
research on fearless temperament as a possible precursor to psychopathy
(Patrick et al., 2009).
From the perspective of the Triarchic model, Cleckleys conception of
psychopathy emphasized boldness and disinhibition, whereas criminally
oriented conceptions (and affiliated measures, including the PCL-R and APSD)
emphasize meanness and disinhibition more so. According to the model,
individuals high in disinhibitory tendencies would warrant a diagnosis of
psychopathy if also high in boldness or meanness (or both), but individuals high
on only one of these tendencies would not. Individuals with differing relative
elevations on these three symptomatic components would account for
contrasting variants (subtypes) of psychopathy as described in the literature
(Hicks, Markon, Patrick, Krueger, & Newman, 2004; Karpman, 1941; Skeem,
Johansson, Andershed, Kerr, & Louden, 2007).
2047
An inventory designed specifically to operationalize this model is the

Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010). The TriPM contains 58
items comprising three subscales that correspond to the constructs of the
model (see Table 1). The items of the Disinhibition and Meanness scales (20
and 19 items, respectively) are taken from the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory
(ESI; Krueger et al., 2007), a measure of problems and traits associated with
externalizing psychopathology as represented in DSM-IV. The TriPM Boldness
scale was developed to index fearless tendencies in social, affectiveexperiential, and activity preference domains, with reference to the FD factor
of the PPI and the general factor shown to underlie differing scale measures of
fear and fearlessness (Kramer, Patrick, Gasperi, & Krueger, 2012).
Table 1. Sample items from the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010)
Although the TriPM is relatively new, promising evidence for its convergent
and discriminant validity has begun to appear (e.g., Sellbom & Phillips, 2013;
Strickland et al., in press; see also Venables & Patrick, 2012). Given that the
inventory is freely available online, and that several foreign-language
2048
translations now exist (including Brazilian-Portuguese, Dutch, Finnish, German,

Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, and Spanish), it can be expected that additional
validity data will accumulate rapidly over time. Work is also being done to
evaluate whether effective scale measures of the Triarchic constructs can be
derived from items of other existing psychopathy inventories such as the PPI.
As discussed in the last part of this section, research examining the common
and distinctive correlates of these three components of psychopathy is likely
to be helpful for addressing and perhaps resolving ongoing points of
uncertainty and debate in the field.
Causal factors
Considerable research has been devoted over many years to investigation of
causal factors in psychopathy. Existing theories are of two types: (1) theories
emphasizing core deficits in emotional sensitivity or responsiveness, and (2)
theories positing basic impairments in cognitive-attentional processing (Patrick
& Bernat, 2009). In support of these alternative theories, differing
neurobiological correlates of psychopathy have been reported. One of the most
consistent entails a lack of normal enhancement of the startle blink reflex to
abrupt noises occurring during viewing of aversive foreground stimuli (e.g.,
scary or disturbing pictorial images) as compared with neutral or pleasant
stimuli (see Figure 1). This result, akin to a failure to jump upon hearing a trash
can tip while walking alone in a dark alley, has been interpreted as reflecting a
lack of normal defensive (fear) reactivity. Another fairly consistent finding
involves reduced amplitude of brain potential response to intermittent target
stimuli, or following incorrect responses, within cognitive performance tasks
indicative of reduced cortical-attentional processing or impaired action
monitoring (Patrick & Bernat, 2009). Yet other research using functional
neuroimaging has demonstrated deficits in basic subcortical (amygdala)
reactivity to interpersonal distress cues (e.g., fearful human faces) in highnobaproject.com - Psychopathy
2049
psychopathic individuals (Jones, Laurens, Herba, Barker, & Viding, 2009; Marsh
et al., 2008).
The Triarchic model may prove to be of use for reconciling alternative causal
models of psychopathy that have been proposed based on contrasting
neurobiological and behavioral findings. For example, lack of startle
enhancement during aversive cuing has been tied specifically to the
interpersonal-affective factor of the PCL-R and the counterpart FD factor of the
PPI (Figure 1)suggesting a link to the boldness component of psychopathy.
By contrast, reduced brain potential responses in cognitive tasks appear more
related to impulsive-externalizing tendencies associated with the disinhibition
component of psychopathy (Carlson, Thi, & McLaron, 2009; Patrick & Bernat,
2009). On the other hand, the finding of reduced subcortical response to
affective facial cues has been tied to the CU traits factor of child/adolescent
psychopathy, a referent for meanness in the Triarchic model. However, further
research is needed to determine whether this finding reflects fear deficits
common to meanness and boldness, or deficits in affiliative capacity or empathy
specific to meanness.
2050
Figure 1. Evidence for lack of normal augmentation of the defensive startle reflex during
viewing of aversive visual images in high-psychopathic individuals.
Upper plot: Mean magnitude of startle blink responses to noise probes occurring during
viewing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant picture stimuli in two male prisoner groups: (1)
prisoners scoring high on the antisocial behavior (AB) factor of the Psychopathy ChecklistRevised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003) but not the interpersonal-affective (IA) factor (labeled High PCLR AB only in the plot; n = 18), and (2) prisoners high on both factors of the PCL-R (labeled
High PCL-R IA & AB; n = 17).
2051
Lower plot: Mean magnitude of startle blink responses to noise probes occurring during
viewing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant picture stimuli in two subgroups of young males
from a large community sample (overall N = 307): (1) lowest 10% of scorers (n = 31) within the
sample on the fearless dominance factor of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI;
Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), labeled Low PPI-FD in the plot, and (2) highest 10% of scorers
(n = 31) on the PPI fearless dominance factor of the PPI, labeled High PPI-FD in the plot.
In both plots, blink means for each picture type are presented in z-score units (M = 0, SD
= 1) derived by standardizing raw blink magnitude scores across trials for each individual
subject. Data in the upper plot are from Patrick, Bradley, and Lang (1993); data in the lower
plot are from Benning, Patrick, and Iacono (2005).
2052
Triarchic model perspective on long-debated issues

regarding psychopathy
As highlighted in the foregoing sections, scholars have grappled with issues of
definition since psychopathy was first identified as a condition of clinical
concern, and questions regarding its essential features and alternative
expressions continue to be debated and studied. This final subsection discusses
how some of the major issues of debate are addressed by the Triarchic model.
One key issue is whether psychological/emotional stability is characteristic
or not of psychopathy. Cleckleys (1941/1976) view was that psychopathy entails
a salient presentation of good mental health, and his diagnostic criteria included
indicators of positive adjustment. By contrast, the dominant clinical assessment
devices for psychopathy, the PCL-R and ASPD, are heavily oriented toward
deviancy and include no items that are purely indicative of adjustment. From
a Triarchic model standpoint, the more adaptive elements of psychopathy are
embodied in its boldness facet, which entails social poise, emotional stability,
and enjoyment of novelty and adventure. At the same time, high boldness is
also associated with narcissistic tendencies, reduced sensitivity to the feelings
of others, and risk-taking (Benning et al., 2005). Thus, the concept of boldness
provides a way to think about the intriguing mask element of psychopathy.
Related to this, another issue is whether lack of anxiety is central to
psychopathy, as Cleckley and others (e.g., Fowles & Dindo, 2009; Lykken, 1995)
have emphasized. This perspective is challenged by research showing either
negligible or somewhat positive associations for overall scores on the PCL-R
and other psychopathy measures with anxiety. The Triarchic model helps to
address this inconsistency by separating the disorder into subcomponents or
facets, which relate differently to measures of trait anxiety: Boldness is
correlated negatively with anxiousness (Benning et al., 2005), whereas
Disinhibition and Meannness are correlated negatively and negligibly,
respectively, with anxiety (Venables & Patrick, 2012). Related to this, cluster
2053
analytic studies of criminal offenders exhibiting high overall scores on the PCLR have demonstrated one subtype characterized by low anxiety in particular,
and another exhibiting high anxiety along with very high levels of impulsivity
and aggression (Hicks et al., 2004; Skeem et al., 2007). The implication is that
low anxiousness is central to one variant of criminal psychopathy (the bolddisinhibited, or primary type) but not to another variant (the disinhibitedmean, aggressive-externalizing, or secondary type).
A further key question is whether violent/aggressive tendencies are typical
of psychopathic individuals and should be included in the definition of the
disorder. Cleckleys (1941/1976) view was that such tendencies should be
regarded as the exception rather than as the rule (p. 262). However,
aggressiveness is central to criminally oriented conceptions of psychopathy,
and the PCL-R includes an item reflecting hot-temperedness and aggression
(poor behavioral controls) along with other items scored in part based on
indications of cruelty and violence. In the Triarchic model, tendencies toward
aggression are represented in both the disinhibition and meanness constructs,
and a mean-disinhibited type of psychopath clearly exists, marked by the
presence of salient aggressive behavior (Frick & Marsee, 2006; Hicks et al., 2004).
Thus, Cleckleys idea of aggression as ancillary to psychopathy may apply more
to a variant of psychopathy that entails high boldness in conjunction with high
disinhibition (Hicks et al., 2004).
Another question is whether criminal or antisocial behavior more broadly
represents a defining feature of psychopathy, or a secondary manifestation
(Cooke, Michie, Hart, & Clark, 2004). From the standpoint of the Triarchic model,
antisocial behavior arises from the complex interplay of different deviancepromoting influencesincluding dispositional boldness, meanness, and
disinhibition. However, whether approaches can be developed for classifying
antisocial behaviors in ways that relate more selectively to these and other
distinct influences (e.g., through reference to underlying motives, spontaneity
versus premeditation) is an important topic to be addressed in future research.
2054
Another key question is whether differing subtypes of psychopathy exist.

From the perspective of the Triarchic model, alternative variants of psychopathy
reflect differing configurations of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition.
Viewed this way, designations such as bold-disinhibited and meandisinhibited may prove more useful for research and clinical purposes than
labels like primary versus secondary or low anxious versus high anxious.
An issue from this perspective is whether individuals who are high in boldness
and/or meanness but low in disinhibition would qualify for a diagnosis of
psychopathy. For example, should a high-bold/high-mean individual (e.g., a
ruthless corporate executive, like the one portrayed by actor Michael Douglas
in the film Wall Street; Pressman & Stone, 1987)or an extremely mean/vicious
but neither bold nor pervasively disinhibited individual, such as Russian serial
murder Andrei Chikatilo (Cullen, 1993)be considered psychopathic?
Questions of this sort will need to be addressed through elaborations of existing
theories in conjunction with further systematic research.
Yet another question is whether psychopathy differs in women as compared
to men. Cleckleys descriptive accounts of psychopathic patients included two
female case examples along with multiple male cases, and his view was that
psychopathy clearly exists in women and reflects the same core deficit (i.e.,
absence of major emotional accompaniments of experience) as in men.
However, men exhibit criminal deviance and ASPD at much higher rates than
women (APA, 2000) and men in the population at large score higher in general
on measures of psychopathy than women (Hare, 2003; Lilienfeld & Widows,
2005). From a Triarchic model perspective, these differences in prevalence may
be attributable largely to differences between women and men in average levels
of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. Some supportive evidence exists for
this hypothesis (e.g., findings of Hicks et al. [2007] demonstrating mediation of
gender differences in ASPD symptoms by levels of externalizing proneness).
Beyond this, it is important also to consider whether underlying psychopathic
dispositions in men and women may be manifested differently in overt behavior
2055
(Verona & Vitale, 2006). Some intriguing evidence exists for thisincluding twin
research findings demonstrating a genetic association between dispositional
boldness (as indexed by estimated scores on PPI-FD) and a composite index of
externalizing problems in male but not female participants (Blonigen, Hicks,
Patrick, Krueger, Iacono, & McGue, 2005). However, more extensive research
along these lines, examining all facets of the Triarchic model in relation to
behavioral outcomes of differing kinds, will be required to effectively address
the question of gender-moderated expression.
A final intriguing question is whether successful psychopaths exist. Hall
and Benning (2006) hypothesized that successful psychopathy entails a
preponderance of certain causal influences (resulting in particular symptomatic
features) over others. Drawing on known correlates of PPI-FD (e.g., Benning et
al., 2005; Ross, Benning, Patrick, Thompson, & Thurston, 2009) and theories
positing separate etiologic mechanisms for differing features of psychopathy
(Fowles & Dindo, 2009; Patrick & Bernat, 2009), these authors proposed that
the presence of dispositional fearlessness (boldness) may be conducive to
success when not accompanied by high externalizing proneness (disinhibition).
For example, high-bold/low-disinhibited individuals could be expected to
achieve higher success in occupations calling for leadership and/or courage
because their psychopathic tendencies are manifested mainly in terms of social
effectiveness, affective resilience, and venturesomeness.
Data relevant to this idea come from an intriguing study by Lilienfeld,
Waldman, Landfield, Rubenzer, and Faschingbauer (2012), who used
personality trait ratings of former U.S. presidents provided by expert historians
to estimate scores on the FD and SCI factors of the PPI (Ross et al., 2009). They
found that higher estimated levels of PPI-FD (boldness) predicted higher ratings
of
presidential
performance,
persuasiveness,
leadership,
and
crisis
management ability, whereas higher estimated levels of SCI predicted adverse

outcomes such as documented abuses of power and impeachment
proceedings. Further research on outcomes associated with high levels of
2056
boldness and/or meanness in the absence of high disinhibition should yield

valuable new insights into dispositional factors underlying psychopathy and
alternative ways psychopathic tendencies can be expressed.
2057
Outside Resources
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels) Capote, T. (1966).
In cold blood. New York, NY: Random House.
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels) Highsmith, P.

(1955). The talented Mr. Ripley. New York, NY: Coward-McCann.
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels) Kerouac, J. (1957).

On the road. New York, NY: Viking Press.
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels) Mailer, N. (1979).

The executioners song. New York, NY: Little, Brown & Co.
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels) McMurtry, L.

(1985). Lonesome dove. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels) Rule, A. (1988).

Small sacrifices. New York, NY: Signet.
Book: (Fictional novels or biographies/biographical novels)Wolff, G. (1979).

The duke of deception. New York, NY: Vintage.
Book: (Reference) Babiak, P., & Hare, R. D. (2006). Snakes in suits. New York,
NY: HarperCollins.
Book: (Reference) Blair, R. J. R., Mitchell, D., & Blair, K. (2005). The psychopath:
Emotion and the brain. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Book: (Reference) Hare, R. D. (1993). Without conscience. New York, NY:

Guilford Press.
Book: (Reference) Hkknen-Nyholm, H., & Nyholm, J. (2012), Psychopathy

and law: A practitioners guide. New York, NY: Wiley.
Book: (Reference) Patrick, C. J. (2006). Handbook of psychopathy. New York,

NY: Guilford Press.
Book: (Reference) Raine, A. (2013). The anatomy of violence. New York, NY:
Random House.
Book: (Reference) Salekin, R., & Lynam, D. T. (2010). Handbook of child and
adolescent psychopathy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Movie: (Facets of psychopathy - Boldness) Bigelow, K. (Producer & Director),

Boal, M., Chartier, N., & Shapiro, G. (Producers). (2008). The hurt locker. United
States: Universal Studios.
Movie: (Facets of psychopathy - Disinhibition) Felner, E. (Producer), Cox, A.

(Director). (1986). Sid and Nancy. United States: Samuel Goldwyn.
Movie: (Facets of psychopathy - Meanness) Coen, J., Coen, E. (Producers &

Directors), & Rudin, S. (Producer). (2007). No country for old men. United
States: Miramax.
Movie: (Psychopathic criminals) Demme, J., Saraf, P., Saxon, E. (Producers), &
Sena, D. (Director). (1993). Kalifornia. United States: Gramercy.
Movie: (Psychopathic criminals) Jaffe, S. R., Lansing, S. (Producers), & Lyn, A.

(Director). (1987). Fatal attraction. United States: Paramount.
Movie: (Psychopathic criminals) Scorsese, M., Harris, R. A., Painten, J.

(Producers), & Frears, S. (Director). (1990). The grifters. United States:
Miramax.
Movie: (Psychopathic criminals) Ward, F., Bozman, R., Utt, K., Demme, J.
(Producers), & Armitrage, G. (Director). (1990). Miami blues. United States:
Orion.
Movie: (Psychopathic hospital patients) Wick, D., Conrad, C. (Producers), &

Mangold, J. (Director). (1990). Girl, interrupted. United States: Columbia.
Movie: (Psychopathic hospital patients) Zaentz, S., Douglas, M. (Producers),

& Forman, M. (Director). (1975). One flew over the cuckoos nest. United
States: United Artists.
Movie: (Psychopaths in business/politics) Bachrach, D. (Producer), & Pierson,

F. (Director). (1992). Citizen Cohn. United States: Home Box Office.
Movie: (Psychopaths in business/politics) Pressman, E. R. (Producer), & Stone,

O. (Director). (1987). Wall Street. United States: 20th Century Fox.
Web: A valuable online resource containing information of various types

including detailed reference lists is Dr. Robert Hares website on the topic of
psychopathy
http://www.hare.org/
Web: Hervey Cleckleys classic book The Mask of Sanity is no longer in print
at this time, but a version authorized for nonprofit educational use by his
estate can be viewed online at
http://www.quantumfuture.net/store/sanity_1.PdF
Web: The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure can be accessed online at
https://www.phenxtoolkit.org/index.php?pageLink=browse.protocoldetails&id=121601
Web: The website for the Aftermath Foundation, a nonprofit organization
that provides information and support for victims and family members of
psychopathic individuals, is
http://www.aftermath-surviving-psychopathy.org/
Web: The website for the Society for Scientific Study of Psychopathy, the
major association for researchers in this area, is
http://www.psychopathysociety.org/index.php?lang=en-US
1. What did Cleckley mean when he characterized psychopathy as involving a
Mask of Sanity?
2. Compare and contrast the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), the
Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), and the Psychopathic
Personality Inventory (PPI), in terms of the samples they are designed for,
the way in which they are administered, and the content and factor structure
of their items.
3. Identify and define the three facet constructs of the Triarchic model of
psychopathy. Discuss how these facet constructs relate to the factors of
the PCL-R, ASPD, and PPI. Discuss how U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt and
fictional character Anton Chigurh from the film No Country for Old Men
might compare in terms of scores on the three Triarchic constructs.
4. Identify alternative types of theories that have been proposed regarding
the cause of psychopathy, and how these can be viewed from the
perspective of the Triarchic model.
5. Identify two longstanding issues of debate regarding the nature/definition
of psychopathy and how these issues are addressed by the Triarchic model.
Vocabulary
Antisocial personality disorder
Counterpart diagnosis to psychopathy included in the third through fifth
editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; APA,
2000). Defined by specific symptoms of behavioral deviancy in childhood (e.g.,
fighting, lying, stealing, truancy) continuing into adulthood (manifested as
repeated rule-breaking, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, aggressiveness, etc.).
Psychopathy
Synonymous with psychopathic personality, the term used by Cleckley
(1941/1976), and adapted from the term psychopathic introduced by German
psychiatrist Julius Koch (1888) to designate mental disorders presumed to be
heritable.
Triarchic model
Model formulated to reconcile alternative historic conceptions of psychopathy
and differing methods for assessing it.
Conceives of psychopathy as
encompassing three symptomatic components: boldness, involving social

efficacy, emotional resiliency, and venturesomeness; meanness, entailing lack
of empathy/emotional-sensitivity and exploitative behavior toward others; and
disinhibition, entailing deficient behavioral restraint and lack of control over
urges/emotional reactions.
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en_US.
ADHD and Behavior

Disorders in Children
Richard Milich & Walter Roberts
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that is
most often diagnosed in school-aged children. Many children with ADHD find
it difficult to focus on tasks and follow instructions, and these characteristics
can lead to problems in school and at home. How children with ADHD are
diagnosed and treated is a topic of controversy, and many people, including
scientists and nonscientists alike, hold strong beliefs about what ADHD is and
how people with the disorder should be treated. This chapter will familiarize
the reader with the scientific literature on ADHD. First, we will review how ADHD
is diagnosed in children, with a focus on how mental health professionals
distinguish between ADHD and normal behavior problems in childhood.
Second, we will describe what is known about the causes of ADHD. Third, we
will describe the treatments that are used to help children with ADHD and their
families. The chapter will conclude with a brief discussion of how we expect
that the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD will change over the coming decades.
Learning Objectives
Distinguish childhood behavior disorders from phases of typical child

development.
Describe the factors contributing to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity

Disorder (ADHD)
Understand the controversies surrounding the legitimacy and treatment of

childhood behavior disorders
Describe the empirically supported treatments for Attention-Deficit/

Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Introduction
Childhood is a stage of life characterized by rapid and profound development.
Starting at birth, children develop the skills necessary to function in the world
around them at a rate that is faster than any other time in life. This is no small
accomplishment! By the end of their first decade of life, most children have
mastered the complex cognitive operations required to comply with rules, such
as stopping themselves from acting impulsively, paying attention to parents
and teachers in the face of distraction, and sitting still despite boredom. Indeed,
acquiring self-control is an important developmental task for children (Mischel,
Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989), because they are expected to comply with directions
from adults, stay on task at school, and play appropriately with peers. For
children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), however,
exercising self-control is a unique challenge. These children, oftentimes despite
their best intentions, struggle to comply with adults instructions, and they are
often labeled as problem children and rule breakers. Historically, people
viewed these children as willfully noncompliant due to moral or motivational
defect (Still, 1902). However, scientists now know that the noncompliance
observed in children with ADHD can be explained by a number of factors,
including neurological dysfunction.
The goal of this chapter is to review the classification, causes, consequences,
and treatment of ADHD. ADHD is somewhat unique among the psychiatric
disorders in that most people hold strong opinions about the disorder, perhaps
due to its more controversial qualities. When applicable, we will discuss some
of the controversial beliefs held by social critics and laypeople, as well as
scientists who study the disorder. Our hope is that a discussion of these
controversies will allow you to reach your own conclusions about the legitimacy
of the disorder.
nobaproject.com - ADHD and Behavior Disorders in Children
2075
Why Diagnose Childrens Behavior Problems?

When a family is referred to a mental health professional for help dealing with
their childs problematic behaviors, the clinicians first goal is to identify the
nature and cause of the childs problems. Accurately diagnosing childrens
behavior problems is an important step in the intervention process, because a
childs diagnosis can guide clinical decision making. Childhood behavior
problems often arise from different causes, require different methods for
treating, and have different developmental courses. Arriving at a diagnosis will
allow the clinician to make inferences about how each child will respond to
different treatments and provide predictive information to the family about
how the disorder will affect the child as he or she develops.
Despite the utility of the current diagnostic system, the practice of
diagnosing childrens behavior problems is controversial. Many adults feel
strongly that labeling children as disordered is stigmatizing and harmful to
childrens self-concept. There is some truth in this concern. One study found
that children have more negative attitudes toward a play partner if they are led
to believe that their partner has ADHD, regardless of whether or not their
partner actually has the disorder (Harris, Milich, Corbitt, Hoover, & Brady, 1992).
Others have criticized the use of the diagnostic system because they believe it
pathologizes normal behavior in children. Despite these criticisms, the
diagnostic system has played a central role in research and treatment of child
behavior disorders, and it is unlikely to change substantially in the near future.
This section will describe ADHD as a diagnostic category and discuss
controversies surrounding the legitimacy of this disorder.
ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed childhood behavior disorder. It
affects 3% to 7% of children in the United States (American Psychiatric
Association, 2000), and approximately 65% of children diagnosed with ADHD
will continue to experience symptoms as adults (Faraone, Biederman, & Mick,
2006). The core symptoms of ADHD are organized into two clusters, including
2076
clusters of hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention. The hyperactive symptom

cluster describes children who are perpetually in motion even during times
when they are expected to be still, such as during class or in the car. The
impulsive symptom cluster describes difficulty in delaying response and acting
without considering the repercussions of behavior. Hyperactive and impulsive
symptoms are closely related, and boys are more likely than girls to experience
symptoms from this cluster (Hartung & Widiger, 1998). Inattentive symptoms
describe difficulty with organization and task follow-through, as well as a
tendency to be distracted by external stimuli. Two children diagnosed with
ADHD can have very different symptom presentations. In fact, children can be
diagnosed with different subtypes of the disorder (i.e., Combined Type,
Predominantly Inattentive Type, or Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type)
according to the number of symptoms they have in each cluster.
Are These Diagnoses Valid?

Many laypeople and social critics argue that ADHD is not a real disorder. These
individuals claim that children with ADHD are only disordered because parents
and school officials have trouble managing their behavior. These criticisms raise
an interesting question about what constitutes a psychiatric disorder in
children: How do scientists distinguish between clinically significant ADHD
symptoms and normal instances of childhood impulsivity, hyperactivity, and
inattention? After all, many 4-year-old boys are hyperactive and cannot focus
on a task for very long. To address this issue, several criteria are used to
distinguish between normal and disordered behavior:
1. The symptoms must significantly impair the childs functioning in important
life domains (e.g., school, home).
2. The symptoms must be inappropriate for the childs developmental level.
2077
2078
One goal of this chapter will be to examine whether ADHD meets the criteria
of a true disorder. The first criterion states that children with ADHD should
show impairment in major functional domains. This is certainly true for children
with ADHD. These children have lower academic achievement compared with
their peers. They are more likely to repeat a grade or be suspended and less
2079
likely to graduate from high school (Loe & Feldman, 2007). Children with ADHD
are often unpopular among their peers, and many of these children are actively
disliked and socially rejected (Landau, Milich, & Diener, 1998). Children with
ADHD are likely to experience comorbid psychological problems such as
learning disorders, depression, anxiety, and oppositional defiant disorder. As
they grow up, adolescents and adults with ADHD are at risk to abuse alcohol
and other drugs (Molina & Pelham, 2003) and experience other adverse
outcomes (see Box 1). In sum, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that
children diagnosed with ADHD are significantly impaired by their symptoms.
It is also important to determine that a childs symptoms are not caused by
normal patterns of development. Many of the behaviors that are diagnostic of
ADHD in some children would be considered developmentally appropriate for
a younger child. This is true for many psychological and psychiatric disorders
in childhood. For example, bedwetting is quite common in 3-year-old children;
at this age, most children have not gained control over nighttime urination. For
this reason, a 3-year-old child who wets the bed would not be diagnosed with
enuresis (i.e., the clinical term for chronic bedwetting), because his or her
behavior is developmentally appropriate. Bedwetting in an 8-year-old child,
however, is developmentally inappropriate. At this age, children are expected
to remain dry overnight, and failure to master this skill would prevent children
from sleeping over at friends houses or attending overnight camps. A similar
example of developmentally appropriate versus inappropriate hyperactivity
and noncompliance is provided in Box 2.
2080
Why Do Some Children Develop Behavior Disorders?

The reasons that some children develop ADHD are complex, and it is generally
recognized that a single cause is insufficient to explain why an individual child
does or does not have the disorder. Researchers have attempted to identify
risk factors that predispose a child to develop ADHD. These risk factors range
in scope from genetic (e.g., specific gene polymorphisms) to familial (e.g., poor
parenting) to cultural (e.g., low socioeconomic status). This section will identify
some of the risk factors that are thought to contribute to ADHD. It will conclude
by reviewing some of the more controversial ideas about the causes of ADHD,
such as poor parenting and childrens diets, and review some of the evidence
pertaining to these causes.
2081
Most experts believe that genetic and neurophysiological factors cause the
majority of ADHD cases. Indeed, ADHD is primarily a genetic disordertwin
studies find that whether or not a child develops ADHD is due in large part (75%)
to genetic variations (Faraone et al., 2005). Further, children with a family history
of ADHD are more likely to develop ADHD themselves (Faraone & Biederman,
1994). Specific genes that have been associated with ADHD are linked to
neurotransmitters
such
as
dopamine
and
serotonin.
In
addition,
neuroimagining studies have found that children with ADHD show reduced
brain volume in some regions of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, the
corpus callosum, the anterior cingulate cortex, the basal ganglia, and the
cerebellum (Seidman, Valera, & Makris, 2005). Among their other functions,
these regions of the brain are implicated in organization, impulse control, and
motor activity, so the reduced volume of these structures in children with ADHD
may cause some of their symptoms.
Although genetics appear to be a main cause of ADHD, recent studies have
shown that environmental risk factors may cause a minority of ADHD cases.
Many of these environmental risk factors increase the risk for ADHD by
disrupting early development and compromising the integrity of the central
nervous system. Environmental influences such as low birth weight,
malnutrition, and maternal alcohol and nicotine use during pregnancy can
increase the likelihood that a child will develop ADHD (Mick, Biederman,
Faraone, Sayer, & Kleinman, 2002). Additionally, recent studies have shown that
exposure to environmental toxins, such as lead and pesticides, early in a childs
life may also increase risk of developing ADHD (Nigg, 2006).
2082
Controversies on Causes of ADHD

Controversial explanations for the development of ADHD have risen and fallen
in popularity since the 1960s. Some of these ideas arise from cultural folklore,
others can be traced to specialists trying to market an easy fix for ADHD based
on their proposed cause. Some other ideas contain a kernel of truth but have
been falsely cast as causing the majority of ADHD cases.
Some critics have proposed that poor parenting is a major cause of ADHD.
This explanation is popular because it is intuitively appealingone can imagine
how a child who is not being disciplined at home may be noncompliant in other
settings. Although it is true that parents of children with ADHD use discipline
less consistently, and a lack of structure and discipline in the home can
exacerbate symptoms in children with ADHD (Campbell, 2002), it is unlikely that
poor parenting alone causes ADHD in the first place. To the contrary, research
suggests that the noncompliance and impulsivity on the childs part can cause
caregivers to use discipline less effectively.
In a classic series of studies, Cunningham and Barkley (1979) showed that
mothers of children with ADHD were less attentive to their children and imposed
more structure to their playtime relative to mothers of typically developing
children. However, these researchers also showed that when the children were
given stimulant medication, their compliance increased and their mothers
parenting behavior improved to the point where it was comparable to that of
the mothers of children without ADHD (Barkley & Cunningham, 1979). This
research suggests that instead of poor parenting causing children to develop
ADHD, it is the stressful effects of managing an impulsive child that causes
parenting problems in their caregivers. One can imagine how raising a child
with ADHD could be stressful for parents. In fact, one study showed that a brief
interaction with an impulsive and noncompliant child caused parents to
increase their alcohol consumptionpresumably these parents were drinking
to cope with the stress of dealing with the impulsive child (Pelham et al., 1997).
2083
It is, therefore, important to consider the reciprocal effects of noncompliant

children on parenting behavior, rather than assuming that parenting ability has
a unidirectional effect on child behavior.
Other purported causes of ADHD are dietary. For example, it was long
believed that excessive sugar intake can cause children to become hyperactive.
This myth is largely disproven (Milich, Wolraich, & Lindgren, 1986). However,
other diet-oriented explanations for ADHD, such as sensitivity to certain food
additives, have been proposed (Feingold, 1976). These theories have received
a bit more support than the sugar hypothesis (Pelsser et al., 2011). In fact, the
possibility that certain food additives may cause hyperactivity in children led to
a ban on several artificial food colorings in the United Kingdom, although the
Food and Drug Administration rejected similar measures in the United States.
Even if artificial food dyes do cause hyperactivity in a subgroup of children,
research does not support these food additives as a primary cause of ADHD.
Further, research support for elimination diets as a treatment for ADHD has
been inconsistent at best.
In sum, scientists are still working to determine what causes children to
develop ADHD, and despite substantial progress over the past four decades,
there are still many unanswered questions. In most cases, ADHD is probably
caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. For example, a
child with a genetic predisposition to ADHD may develop the disorder after his
or her mother uses tobacco during her pregnancy, whereas a child without the
genetic predisposition may not develop the disorder in the same environment.
Fortunately, the causes of ADHD are relatively unimportant for the families of
children with ADHD who wish to receive treatment, because what caused the
disorder for an individual child generally does not influence how it is treated.
2084
Methods of Treating ADHD in Children

There are several types of evidence-based treatment available to families of
children with ADHD. The type of treatment that might be used depends on
many factors, including the childs diagnosis and treatment history, as well as
parent preference. To treat children with less severe noncompliance problems,
parents can be trained to systematically use contingency management (i.e.,
rewards and punishments) to manage their childrens behavior more effectively
(Kazdin, 2005). For the children with ADHD, however, more intensive treatments
often are necessary.
Medication
The most common method of treating ADHD is to prescribe stimulant
medications such as Adderall. These medications treat many of the core
symptoms of ADHDtreated children will show improved impulse control,
time-on-task, and compliance with adults, and decreased hyperactivity and
disruptive behavior. However, there are also negative side effects to stimulant
medication, such as growth and appetite suppression, increased blood
pressure, insomnia, and changes in mood (Barkley, 2006). Although these side
effects can be unpleasant for children, they can often be avoided with careful
monitoring and dosage adjustments.
Opinions differ on whether stimulants should be used to treat children with
ADHD. Proponents argue that stimulants are relatively safe and effective, and
that untreated ADHD poses a much greater risk to children (Barkley, 2006).
Critics argue that because many stimulant medications are similar to illicit drugs,
such as cocaine and methamphetamine, long-term use may cause
cardiovascular problems or predispose children to abuse illicit drugs. However,
longitudinal studies have shown that people taking these medications are not
more likely to experience cardiovascular problems or to abuse drugs
2085
(Biederman, Wilens, Mick, Spencer, & Faraone, 1999; Cooper et al., 2011). On
the other hand, it is not entirely clear how long-term stimulant treatment can
affect the brain, particularly in adults who have been medicated for ADHD since
childhood.
Finally, critics of psychostimulant medication have proposed that stimulants
are increasingly being used to manage energetic but otherwise healthy children.
It is true that the percentage of children prescribed stimulant medication has
increased since the 1980s. This increase in use is not unique to stimulant
medication, however. Prescription rates have similarly increased for most types
of psychiatric medication (Olfson, Marcus, Weissman, & Jensen, 2002). As
parents and teachers become more aware of ADHD, one would expect that
more children with ADHD will be identified and treated with stimulant
medication. Further, the percentage of children in the United States being
treated with stimulant medication is lower than the estimated prevalence of
children with ADHD in the general population (Nigg, 2006).
Parent Management Training

Parenting children with ADHD can be challenging. Parents of these children
are understandably frustrated by their childrens misbehavior. Standard
discipline tactics, such as warnings and privilege removal, can feel ineffective
for children with ADHD. This often leads to ineffective parenting, such as yelling
at or ridiculing the child with ADHD. This cycle can leave parents feeling hopeless
and children with ADHD feeling alienated from their family. Fortunately, parent
management training can provide parents with a number of tools to cope with
and effectively manage their childs impulsive and oppositional behavior. Parent
management training teaches parents to use immediate, consistent, and
powerful consequences (i.e., rewards and punishment), because children with
ADHD respond well to these types of behavioral contingencies (Luman,
Oosterlaan, & Sergeant, 2005). Other, more intensive, psychosocial treatments
2086
use similar behavioral principles in summer campbased settings (Pelham,

Fabiano, Gnagy, Greiner, & Hoza, 2004), and school-based intervention
programs are becoming more popular. A description of a school-based
intervention program for ADHD is described in Box 3.
2087
What Works Best? The Multimodal Treatment Study

Recently, a large-scale study, the Multimodal Treatment Study (MTA) of Children
with ADHD, compared pharmacological and behavioral treatment of ADHD
(MTA Cooperative Group, 1999). This study compared the outcomes of children
with ADHD in four different treatment conditions, including standard
community care, intensive behavioral treatment, stimulant medication
management, and the combination of intensive behavioral treatment and
stimulant medication. In terms of core symptom relief, stimulant medication
was the most effective treatment, and combined treatment was no more
effective than stimulant medication alone (MTA Cooperative Group, 1999).
Behavioral treatment was advantageous in other ways, however. For example,
children who received combined treatment were less disruptive at school than
children receiving stimulant medication alone (Hinshaw et al., 2000). Other
studies have found that children who receive behavioral treatment require
lower doses of stimulant medication to achieve the desired outcomes (Pelham
et al., 2005). This is important because children are better able to tolerate lower
doses of stimulant medication. Further, parents report being more satisfied
with treatment when behavioral management is included as a component in
the program (Jensen et al., 2001). In sum, stimulant medication and behavioral
treatment each have advantages and disadvantages that complement the
other, and the best outcomes likely occur when both forms of treatment are
used to improve childrens behavior.
The Future of ADHD

It is difficult to predict the future; however, based on trends in research and
public discourse, we can predict how the field may change as time progresses.
This section will discuss two areas of research and public policy that will shape
how we understand and treat ADHD in the coming decades.
2088
Controlling Access to Stimulant Medication

It is no secret that many of the drugs used to treat ADHD are popular drugs of
abuse among high school and college students, and this problem seems to be
getting worse. The rate of illicit stimulant use has steadily risen over the past
several decades (Teter, McCabe, Cranford, Boyd, & Guthrie, 2005), and it is
probably not a coincidence that prescription rates for stimulant medication
have increased during the same time period (Setlik, Bond, & Ho, 2009). Students
who abuse stimulants often report doing so because they act as an academic
performance enhancer by boosting alertness and concentration. Although they
may enhance performance in the short term, nonmedical use of these drugs
can lead to dependence and other adverse health consequences, especially
when taken in ways other than prescribed (e.g., crushed and snorted) (Volkow
& Swanson, 2003). Stimulants can be particularly dangerous when they are
taken without supervision from a physician, because this may lead to adverse
drug interactions or side effects. Because this increase in prescription stimulant
abuse represents a threat to public health, an important goal for policy makers
will be to reduce the availability of prescription stimulants to those who would
use them for nonmedical reasons.
One of the first steps for addressing prescription stimulant abuse will be
understanding how illicit users gain access to medication. Probably the most
common method of obtaining stimulants is through drug diversion. The
majority of college students who abuse stimulants report obtaining them from
peers with valid prescriptions (McCabe & Boyd, 2005). Another way that wouldbe abusers may gain access to medication is by malingering (i.e., faking)
symptoms of ADHD (Quinn, 2003). These individuals will knowingly exaggerate
their symptoms to a physician in order to obtain a prescription. Other sources
of illicit prescription drugs have been identified (e.g., pharmacy websites)
(Califano, 2004), but more research is needed to understand how much these
sources contribute to the problem. As we gain an understanding of how people
2089
gain access to illicit medication, policy makers and researchers can make efforts
to curtail the rate of stimulant misuse. For example, because drug diversion is
a major source of illicit stimulants, policymakers have enacted prescription
monitoring programs to keep track of patients prescription-seeking behavior
(Office of Drug Control Policy, 2011), and, in some cases, patients are required
to pass drug screens before receiving their prescriptions. To address
malingering, researchers are working to develop psychological tests that can
identify individuals who are faking symptoms (Jasinski et al., 2011). Finally,
pharmacologists are working to develop stimulant medications that do not
carry the same risk of abuse as the currently available drugs (e.g.,
lisdexamfetamine) (Biederman et al., 2007).
Although all of these measures will reduce illicit users access to stimulant
medication, it is important to consider how the policies will affect access among
people who need these medications to treat their ADHD symptoms.
Prescription tracking programs may reduce physicians willingness to prescribe
stimulants out of fear of being investigated by law enforcement. Patients with
ADHD with comorbid substance abuse problems may be denied access to
stimulant medication because they are considered high risk for drug diversion.
Similarly, lengthy psychological evaluations to assess for malingering and
mandated drug screenings may be prohibitively expensive for less affluent
individuals with ADHD. These measures to reduce illicit drug use are necessary
from a public health perspective, but as we move forward and enact policies to
reduce stimulant abuse, it will be equally important to consider impact of such
legislation on patients access to treatment.
2090
The Role of Neuroscience and Behavioral Genetics in

Understanding ADHD
Much of the research on ADHD has been conducted to answer several
deceptively complex questions: What causes ADHD? How are people with ADHD
different from their typically developing peers? How can ADHD be prevented
or treated? Historically, our tools for answering these questions was limited to
observing outward human behavior, and our ability to ask questions about the
physiology of ADHD was severely limited by the technology of the time. In the
past two decades, however, rapid advances in technology (e.g., functional
magnetic resonance imaging, genetic analysis) have allowed us to probe the
physiological bases of human behavior.
An exciting application of this
technology is that we are able to extend our understanding of ADHD beyond

basic behavior; we are learning about the underlying neurophysiology and
genetics of the disorder. As we gain a fuller understanding of ADHD, we may
be able to apply this knowledge to improve prevention and treatment of the
disorder. Knowledge of the underlying physiology of ADHD may guide efforts
to develop new nonstimulant medications, which may not carry the side effects
or abuse potential of traditional stimulants. Similarly, these advances may
improve our ability to diagnose ADHD. Although it is extremely unlikely that a
perfectly accurate genetic or neuroimaging test for ADHD will ever be developed
(Thome et al., 2012), such procedures could be used in conjunction with
behavioral evaluation and questionnaires to improve diagnostic accuracy.
Finally, identifying genetic traits that predispose children to develop ADHD may
allow physicians to use targeted prevention programs that could reduce the
chances that children at risk for developing the disorder will experience
symptoms.
2091
1. Does ADHD meet the definition of a psychiatric disorder?
2. Explain the difference between developmentally appropriate and
developmentally inappropriate behavior problems.
3. Do you believe that it is ethical to prescribe stimulant medication to children?
Why or why not? What are the risks associated with withholding stimulant
medication from children with ADHD?
4. How should society balance the need to treat individuals with ADHD using
stimulants with public health concerns about the abuse of these same
medications?
Vocabulary
Contingency management
A reward or punishment that systematically follows a behavior. Parents can use
contingencies to modify their childrens behavior.
Drug diversion
When a drug that is prescribed to treat a medical condition is given to another
individual who seeks to use the drug illicitly.
Malingering
Fabrication or exaggeration of medical symptoms to achieve secondary gain
(e.g., receive medication, avoid school).
Oppositional defiant disorder
A childhood behavior disorder that is characterized by stubbornness, hostility,
and behavioral defiance. This disorder is highly comorbid with ADHD.
Parent management training
A treatment for childhood behavior problems that teaches parents how to use
contingencies to more effectively manage their childrens behavior.
Pathologizes
To define a trait or collection of traits as medically or psychologically unhealthy
or abnormal.
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Pelham, W. E., Lang, A. R., Atkeson, B., Murphy, D. A., Gnagy, E. M., Greiner, A.
R., Greenslade, K. E. (1997). Effects of deviant child behavior on parental
distress and alcohol consumption in laboratory interactions. Journal of
Abnormal Child Psychology, 25, 413424.
Pelsser, L. M., Frankena, K., Toorman, J., Savelkoul, H. F., Dubois, A. E., Pereira,
R. R., Buitelaar, J. K. (2011). Effects of a restricted elimination diet on the
behaviour of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (INCA
study): A randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 377, 494503.
Quinn, C. A. (2003). Detection of malingering in assessment of adult ADHD.
Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 18(4), 379395.
Seidman, L. J., Valera, E. M., & Makris, N. (2005). Structural brain imaging of
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1263
1272.
Setlik, J., Bond, G. R., & Ho, M. (2009). Adolescent prescription ADHD medication
abuse Is rising along with prescriptions for these medications. Pediatrics,
124, 875880.
Still, G. F. (1902). Some abnormal psychical conditions in children: The
Goulstonian lectures. Lancet, 1, 10081012.
Teter, C. J., McCabe, S. E., Cranford, J. A., Boyd, C. J., & Guthrie, S. K. (2005).
Prevalence and motives for illicit use of prescription stimulants in an
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253262.
Thome, J., Ehlis, A. C., Fallgatter, A. J., Krauel, K., Lange, K. W., Riederer, P.,
Gerlach, M. (2012). Biomarkers for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. ADHD and Behavior Disorders in Children by
Richard Milich and Walter Roberts is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Psychopharmacology
Susan Barron
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Psychopharmacology is the study of how drugs affect behavior. If a drug
changes your perception, or the way you feel or think, the drug exerts effects
on your brain and nervous system. We call drugs that change the way you think
or feel psychoactive or psychotropic drugs, and almost everyone has used a
psychoactive drug at some point (yes, caffeine counts). Understanding some
of the basics about psychopharmacology can help us better understand a wide
range of things that interest psychologists and others. For example, the
pharmacological treatment of certain neurodegenerative diseases such as
Parkinsons disease tells us something about the disease itself.
The
pharmacological treatments used to treat psychiatric conditions such as

schizophrenia or depression have undergone amazing development since the
1950s, and the drugs used to treat these disorders tell us something about what
is happening in the brain of individuals with these conditions.
Finally,
understanding something about the actions of drugs of abuse and their routes
of administration can help us understand why some psychoactive drugs are so
addictive. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of some of these topics
as well as discuss some current controversial areas in the field of
psychopharmacology.
Learning Objectives
How do the majority of psychoactive drugs work in the brain?
How does the route of administration affect how rewarding a drug might be?
Why is grapefruit dangerous to consume with many psychotropic

medications?
Why might individualized drug doses based on genetic screening be helpful

for treating conditions like depression?
Why is there controversy regarding pharmacotherapy for children,

adolescents, and the elderly?
Introduction
Psychopharmacology, the study of how drugs affect the brain and behavior, is
a relatively new science, although people have probably been taking drugs to
change how they feel from early in our history (think of early history of eating
fermented fruit, ancient beer recipes, chewing on the leaves of the cocaine plant
for
stimulant
properties
as
just
some
examples).
The
word
psychopharmacology itself tells us that this is a field that bridges our

understanding of behavior (and brain) and pharmacology, and the range of
topics included within this field is extremely broad.
Virtually any drug that changes the way you feel does this by altering how
neurons communicate with each other. Neurons (more than 100 billion in your
nervous system) communicate with each other by releasing a chemical
(neurotransmitter) across a tiny space between two neurons (the synapse).
When the neurotransmitter crosses the synapse, it binds to a postsynaptic
receptor (protein) on the receiving neuron and the message may then be
transmitted onward. Obviously, neurotransmission is far more complicated
than this links at the end of this chapter can provide some useful background
if you want more detail but the first step is understanding that virtually all
psychoactive drugs interfere or alter how neurons communicate with each
other.
There are many neurotransmitters. Some of the most important in terms
of psychopharmacological treatment and drugs of abuse are outlined in Table
1. The neurons that release these neurotransmitters, for the most part, are
localized within specific circuits of the brain that mediate these behaviors.
Psychoactive drugs can either increase activity at the synapse (these are called
agonists) or reduce activity at the synapse (antagonists). Different drugs do
this by different mechanisms, and some examples of agonists and antagonists
are presented in Table 2. For each example, the drugs trade name, which is
the name of the drug provided by the drug company, and generic name (in
nobaproject.com - Psychopharmacology
2104
parentheses) are provided.
Table 1.
A very useful link at the end of this chapter shows the various steps involved
in neurotransmission and some ways drugs can alter this.
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Table 2.
Table 2 provides examples of drugs and their primary mechanism of action,

but it is very important to realize that drugs also have effects on other
neurotransmitters.
This contributes to the kinds of side effects that are
observed when someone takes a particular drug. The reality is that no drugs
currently available work only exactly where we would like in the brain or only
on a specific neurotransmitter. In many cases, individuals are sometimes
prescribed one psychotropic drug but then may also have to take additional
drugs to reduce the side effects caused by the initial drug.
Sometimes
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individuals stop taking medication because the side effects can be so profound.
Pharmacokinetics: What Is It Why Is It Important?

While this section may sound more like pharmacology, it is important to realize
how important pharmacokinetics can be when considering psychoactive drugs.
Pharmacokinetics refers to how the body handles a drug that we take. As
mentioned earlier, psychoactive drugs exert their effects on behavior by altering
neuronal communication in the brain, and the majority of drugs reach the brain
by traveling in the blood. The acronym ADME is often used with A standing for
absorption (how the drug gets into the blood), Distribution (how the drug gets
to the organ of interest in this chapter, that is the brain), Metabolism (how
the drug is broken down so it no longer exerts its psychoactive effects), and
Excretion (how the drug leaves the body). We will talk about a couple of these
to show their importance for considering psychoactive drugs.
Drug Administration
There are many ways to take drugs, and these routes of drug administration
can have a significant impact on how quickly that drug reaches brain. The most
common route of administration is oral administration, which is relatively slow
and perhaps surprisingly often the most variable and complex route of
administration. Drugs enter the stomach and then get absorbed by the blood
supply and capillaries that line the small intestine. The rate of absorption can
be affected by a variety of factors including the quantity and the type of food
in the stomach (e.g., fats vs. proteins). This is why the medicine label for some
drugs (like antibiotics) may specifically state foods that you should or should
NOT consume within an hour of taking the drug because they can affect the
rate of absorption. Two of the most rapid routes of administration include
inhalation (i.e., smoking or gaseous anesthesia) and intravenous (IV) in which
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the drug is injected directly into the vein and hence the blood supply. Both of
these routes of administration can get the drug to brain in less than 10 seconds.
IV administration also has the distinction of being the most dangerous because
if there is an adverse drug reaction, there is very little time to administer any
antidote, as in the case of an IV heroin overdose..
Why might how quickly a drug gets to the brain be important? If a drug
activates the reward circuits in the brain AND it reaches the brain very quickly,
the drug has a high risk for abuse and addiction.
Psychostimulants like
amphetamine or cocaine are examples of drugs that have high risk for abuse
because they are agonists at DA neurons involved in reward AND because these
drugs exist in forms that can be either smoked or injected intravenously. Some
argue that cigarette smoking is one of the hardest addictions to quit, and
although part of the reason for this may be that smoking gets the nicotine into
the brain very quickly (and indirectly acts on DA neurons), it is a more
complicated story. For drugs that reach the brain very quickly, not only is the
drug very addictive, but so are the cues associated with the drug (see Rohsenow,
Niaura, Childress, Abrams, & Monti, 1990). For a crack user, this could be the
pipe that they use to smoke the drug. For a cigarette smoker, however, it could
be something as normal as finishing dinner or waking up in the morning (if that
is when the smoker usually has a cigarette). For both the crack user and the
cigarette smoker, the cues associated with the drug may actually cause craving
that is alleviated by (you guessed it) lighting a cigarette or using crack (i.e.,
relapse). This is one of the reasons individuals that enroll in drug treatment
programs, especially out-of-town programs, are at significant risk of relapse if
they later find themselves in proximity to old haunts, friends, etc. But this is
much more difficult for a cigarette smoker. How can someone avoid eating?
Or avoid waking up in the morning, etc. These examples help you begin to
understand how important the route of administration can be for psychoactive
drugs.
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Drug Metabolism
Metabolism involves the breakdown of psychoactive drugs, and this occurs
primarily in the liver. The liver produces enzymes (proteins that speed up a
chemical reaction), and these enzymes help catalyze a chemical reaction that
breaks down psychoactive drugs.
Enzymes exist in families, and many
psychoactive drugs are broken down by the same family of enzymes, the
cytochrome P450 superfamily. There is not a unique enzyme for each drug;
rather, certain enzymes can break down a wide variety of drugs. Tolerance to
the effects of many drugs can occur with repeated exposure; that is, the drug
produces less of an effect over time, so more of the drug is needed to get the
same effect. This is particularly true for sedative drugs like alcohol or opiatebased painkillers. Metabolic tolerance is one kind of tolerance and it takes place
in the liver. Some drugs (like alcohol) cause enzyme induction an increase in
the enzymes produced by the liver. For example, chronic drinking results in
alcohol being broken down more quickly, so the alcoholic needs to drink more
to get the same effect of course, until so much alcohol is consumed that it
damages the liver (alcohol can cause fatty liver or cirrhosis).
Recent Issues Related to Psychotropic Drugs and

Metabolism
Grapefruit Juice and Metabolism
Certain types of food in the stomach can alter the rate of drug absorption, and
other foods can also alter the rate of drug metabolism. The most well known
is grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice suppresses cytochrome P450 enzymes in
the liver, and these liver enzymes normally break down a large variety of drugs
(including some of the psychotropic drugs). If the enzymes are suppressed,
2109
drug levels can build up to potentially toxic levels. In this case, the effects can
persist for extended periods of time after the consumption of grapefruit juice.
As of 2013, there are at least 85 drugs shown to adversely interact with grapefruit
juice (Bailey, Dresser, & Arnold, 2013). Some psychotropic drugs that are likely
to interact with grapefruit juice include carbamazepine (Tegretol), prescribed
for bipolar disorder; diazepam (Valium), used to treat anxiety, alcohol
withdrawal, and muscle spasms; and fluvoxamine (Luvox), used to treat
obsessive compulsive disorder and depression. A link at the end of this chapter
gives the latest list of drugs reported to have this unusual interaction.
Individualized Therapy, Metabolic Differences, and

Potential Prescribing Approaches for the Future
Mental illnesses contribute to more disability in western countries than all other
illnesses including cancer and heart disease. Depression alone is predicted to
be the second largest contributor to disease burden by 2020 (World Health
Organization, 2004). The numbers of people affected by mental health issues
are pretty astonishing, with estimates that 25% of adults experience a mental
health issue in any given year, and this affects not only the individual but their
friends and family. One in 17 adults experiences a serious mental illness
(Kessler, Chiu, Demler, & Walters, 2005). Newer antidepressants are probably
the most frequently prescribed drugs for treating mental health issues,
although there is no magic bullet for treating depression or other conditions.
Pharmacotherapy with psychological therapy may be the most beneficial
treatment approach for many psychiatric conditions, but there are still many
unanswered questions. For example, why does one antidepressant help one
individual yet have no effect for another? Antidepressants can take 4 to 6 weeks
to start improving depressive symptoms, and we dont really understand why.
Many people do not respond to the first antidepressant prescribed and may
have to try different drugs before finding something that works for them. Other
2110
people just do not improve with antidepressants (Ioannidis, 2008). As we better

understand why individuals differ, the easier and more rapidly we will be able
to help people in distress.
One area that has received interest recently has to do with an individualized
treatment approach. We now know that there are genetic differences in some
of the cytochrome P450 enzymes and their ability to break down drugs. The
general population falls into the following 4 categories: 1) ultra-extensive
metabolizers break down certain drugs (like some of the current
antidepressants) very, very quickly, 2) extensive metabolizers are also able to
break down drugs fairly quickly, 3) intermediate metabolizers break down drugs
more slowly than either of the two above groups, and finally 4) poor
metabolizers break down drugs much more slowly than all of the other groups.
Now consider someone receiving a prescription for an antidepressant what
would the consequences be if they were either an ultra-extensive metabolizer
or a poor metabolizer?
The ultra-extensive metabolizer would be given
antidepressants and told it will probably take 4 to 6 weeks to begin working

(this is true), but they metabolize the medication so quickly that it will never be
effective for them. In contrast, the poor metabolizer given the same daily dose
of the same antidepressant may build up such high levels in their blood (because
they are not breaking the drug down), that they will have a wide range of side
effects and feel really badly also not a positive outcome. What if instead
prior to prescribing an antidepressant, the doctor could take a blood sample
and determine which type of metabolizer a patient actually was? They could
then make a much more informed decision about the best dose to prescribe.
There are new genetic tests now available to better individualize treatment in
just this way. A blood sample can determine (at least for some drugs) which
category an individual fits into, but we need data to determine if this actually
is effective for treating depression or other mental illnesses (Zhou, 2009).
Currently, this genetic test is expensive and not many health insurance plans
cover this screen, but this may be an important component in the future of
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psychopharmacology.
Other Controversial Issues

Juveniles and Psychopharmacology
A recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report has suggested that as many
as 1 in 5 children between the ages of 5 and 17 may have some type of mental
disorder (e.g., ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression) (CDC, 2013). The incidence
of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents has also increased 40 times in
the past decade (Moreno, Laje, Blanco, Jiang, Schmidt, & Olfson, 2007), and it
is now estimated that 1 in 88 children have been diagnosed with an autism
spectrum disorder (CDC, 2011). Why has there been such an increase in these
numbers? There is no single answer to this important question. Some believe
that greater public awareness has contributed to increased teacher and parent
referrals. Others argue that the increase stems from changes in criterion
currently used for diagnosing. Still others suggest environmental factors, either
prenatally or postnatally, have contributed to this upsurge.
We do not have an answer, but the question does bring up an additional
controversy related to how we should treat this population of children and
adolescents. Many psychotropic drugs used for treating psychiatric disorders
have been tested in adults, but few have been tested for safety or efficacy with
children or adolescents. The most well-established psychotropics prescribed
for children and adolescents are the psychostimulant drugs used for treating
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and there are clinical data on
how effective these drugs are. However, we know far less about the safety and
efficacy in young populations of the drugs typically prescribed for treating
anxiety, depression, or other psychiatric disorders. The young brain continues
to mature until probably well after age 20, so some scientists are concerned
that drugs that alter neuronal activity in the developing brain could have
2112
significant consequences. There is an obvious need for clinical trials in children

and adolescents to test the safety and effectiveness of many of these drugs,
which also brings up a variety of ethical questions about who decides what
children and adolescents will participate in these clinical trials, who can give
consent, who receives reimbursements, etc.
The Elderly and Psychopharmacology

Another population that has not typically been included in clinical trials to
determine the safety or effectiveness of psychotropic drugs is the elderly.
Currently, there is very little high-quality evidence to guide prescribing for older
people clinical trials often exclude people with multiple comorbidities (other
diseases, conditions, etc.), which are typical for elderly populations (see Hilmer
and Gnjidict, 2008; Pollock, Forsyth, & Bies, 2008). This is a serious issue because
the elderly consume a disproportionate number of the prescription meds
prescribed. The term polypharmacy refers to the use of multiple drugs, which
is very common in elderly populations in the United States. As our population
ages, some estimate that the proportion of people 65 or older will reach 20%
of the U.S. population by 2030, with this group consuming 40% of the prescribed
medications. As shown in Table 3 (from Schwartz and Abernethy, 2008), it is
quite clear why the typical clinical trial that looks at the safety and effectiveness
of psychotropic drugs can be problematic if we try to interpret these results for
an elderly population.
2113
Table 3. Reprinted by permission from Schwartz & Abernethy, 2008.
Metabolism of drugs is often slowed considerably for elderly populations,

so less drug can produce the same effect (or all too often, too much drug can
result in a variety of side effects). One of the greatest risk factors for elderly
populations is falling (and breaking bones), which can happen if the elderly
person gets dizzy from too much of a drug. There is also evidence that
psychotropic medications can reduce bone density (thus worsening the
consequences if someone falls) (Brown & Mezuk, 2012). Although we are gaining
an awareness about some of the issues facing pharmacotherapy in older
populations, this is a very complex area with many medical and ethical
questions.
This chapter provided an introduction of some of the important areas in the
field of psychopharmacology. It should be apparent that this chapter just
touched on a number of topics included in this field. It should also be apparent
that understanding more about psychopharmacology is important to anyone
2114
interested in understanding behavior and that our understanding of issues in

this field has important implications for society.
2115
Outside Resources
Video: Neurotransmission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR4S1BqdFG4
Web: Description of how some drugs work and the brain areas involved - 1
http://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/nida-notes/2007/10/impacts-drugsneurotransmission
Web: Description of how some drugs work and the brain areas involved - 2
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/drugs/mouse.html
Web: Information about how neurons communicate and the reward
pathways
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/ontent/addiction/reward/neurontalk.html
Web: National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/
Web: National Institute of Drug Abuse
http://www.drugabuse.gov/
Web: National Institute of Mental Health
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml
Web: Neurotransmission
http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/addiction/activities/
lesson2_neurotransmission.htm
Web: Report of the Working Group on Psychotropic Medications for Children

and Adolescents: Psychopharmacological, Psychosocial, and Combined
Interventions for Childhood Disorders: Evidence Base, Contextual Factors,
and Future Directions (2008):
http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/child-medications.pdf.
Web: Ways drugs can alter neurotransmission
http://bioserv.fiu.edu/~waltercm/b/addicitions/dopamine.htm
1. What are some of the issues surrounding prescribing medications for
children and adolescents? How might this be improved?
2. What are some of the factors that can affect relapse to an addictive drug?
3. How might prescribing medications for depression be improved in the
future to increase the likelihood that a drug would work and minimize side
effects?
Vocabulary
Agonists
A drug that increases or enhances a neurotransmitters effect.
Antagonist
A drug that blocks a neurotransmitters effect.
Enzyme
A protein produced by a living organism that allows or helps a chemical reaction
to occur.
Enzyme induction
Process through which a drug can enhance the production of an enzyme.
Metabolism
Breakdown of substances.
Neurotransmitter
A chemical substance produced by a neuron that is used for communication
between neurons.
Pharmacokinetics
The action of a drug through the body, including absorption, distribution,
metabolism, and excretion.
Polypharmacy
The use of many medications.
Psychoactive drugs
A drug that changes mood or the way someone feels.
Psychotropic drug
A drug that changes mood or emotion, usually used when talking about drugs
prescribed for various mental conditions (depression, anxiety, schizophrenia,
etc.).
Synapse
The tiny space separating neurons.
Reference List
Bailey D. G., Dresser G., & Arnold J. M. (2013). Grapefruit-medication
interactions: forbidden fruit or avoidable consequences? Canadian Medical
Association Journal, 185, 309316.
Brown, M. J., & Mezuk, B. (2012). Brains, bones, and aging: psychotropic
medications and bone health among older adults. Current Osteoporosis
Reports, 10, 303311.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) Prevalence of autism
spectrum disorders autism and developmental disabilities monitoring
network, 14 sites, United States, 2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report 61(SS03) 119.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013) Mental health surveillance
among children United States, 20052011. Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report 62 Suppl, 1-35.
Hilmer, N., & Gnjidict, D. (2008). The effects of polypharmacy in older adults.
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 85, 8688.
Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2008). Effectiveness of antidepressants: an evidence myth
constructed from a thousand randomized trials? Philosophy, Ethics and
Humanities in Medicine, 3,14.
Kessler, R. C., Chiu, W. T., Demler, O., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Prevalence, severity,
and comorbidity of twelve-month DSM-IV disorders in the National
Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Archives of General Psychiatry, 62,
617627.
Moreno, C., Laje, G., Blanco, C., Jiang, H., Schmidt, A. B., & Olfson, M., (2007).
National trends in the outpatient diagnosis and treatment of bipolar
disorder in youth. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64(9), 10321039.
Pollock, B. G., Forsyth, C. E., & Bies, R. R. (2008). The critical role of clinical
pharmacology in geriatric psychopharmacology. Clinical Pharmacology &
Therapeutics, 85, 8993.
Rohsenow, D. J., Niaura, R. S., Childress, A. R., Abrams, D. B., &, Monti, P. M.
(1990). Cue reactivity in addictive behaviors: Theoretical and treatment
implications. International Journal of Addiction, 25, 957993.
Schwartz, J. B., & Abernethy, D. R. (2008). Aging and medications: Past, present,
future. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 85, 310.
World Health Organization. (2004). Promoting mental health: concepts,
emerging evidence, practice (Summary Report). Geneva, Switzerland:
Author. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/en/
promoting_mhh.pdf
Zhou, S. F. (2009). Polymorphism of human cytochrome P450 2D6 and its clinical
significance: Part II. Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 48, 761804.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Psychopharmacology by Susan Barron is licensed

deed.en_US.
Topic 11
Well-Being
The Healthy Life

Emily Hooker & Sarah Pressman
University of Calfornia, Irvine
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors play an important role in our health.
Not only do they influence our day-to-day health practices, but they can also
influence how our body functions. This chapter provides an overview of health
psychology, which is a field devoted to understanding the connections between
psychology and health.
Discussed here are examples of topics a health
psychologist might study, including stress, psychosocial factors related to health

and disease, how to use psychology to improve health, and the role of
psychology in medicine.
Learning Objectives
Describe basic terminology used in the field of health psychology.
Explain theoretical models of health, as well as the role of psychological

stress in the development of disease.
Describe psychological factors that contribute to resilience and improved

health.
Defend the relevance and importance of psychology to the field of medicine.
What Is Health Psychology?

Today, we face more chronic disease than ever before because we are living
longer lives while also frequently behaving in unhealthy ways. One example of
a chronic disease is coronary heart disease (CHD): It is the number one cause
of death worldwide (World Health Organization, 2013). CHD develops slowly
over time and typically appears midlife, but related heart problems can persist
for years after the original diagnosis or cardiovascular event. In managing
illnesses that persist over time (other examples might include cancer, diabetes,
and long-term disability) many psychological factors will determine the
progression of the ailment.
appropriate?
For example, do patients seek help when
Do they follow doctor recommendations? Do they develop
negative psychological symptoms due to lasting illness (e.g., depression)? Also

important is that psychological factors can play a significant role in who develops
these diseases, the prognosis, and the nature of the symptoms related to the
illness. Health psychology is a relatively new, interdisciplinary field of study that
focuses on these very issues, or more specifically, the role of psychology in
maintaining health, as well as preventing and treating illness.
Consideration of how psychological and social factors influence health is
especially important today because many of the leading causes of illness in
developed countries are often attributed to psychological and behavioral
factors. In the case of CHD, discussed above, psychosocial factors, such as
excessive stress, smoking, unhealthy eating habits, and some personality traits
can also lead to increased risk of disease and worst health outcomes. That
being said, many of these factors can be adjusted using psychological
techniques. For example, clinical health psychologists can improve health
practices like poor dietary choices and smoking, they can teach important stress
reduction techniques, and they can help treat psychological disorders tied to
poor health. Health psychology considers how the choices we make, the
behaviors we engage in, and even the emotions that we feel, can play an
nobaproject.com - The Healthy Life
2128
important role in our overall health (Cohen & Herbert, 1996; Taylor, 2012).
Health psychology relies on the Biopsychosocial Model of Health. This
model posits that biology, psychology, and social factors are just as important
in the development of disease as biological causes (e.g., germs, viruses), which
is consistent with the World Health Organization (1946) definition of health.
This model replaces the older Biomedical Model of Health, which primarily
considers the physical, or pathogenic, factors contributing to illness. Thanks to
advances in medical technology, there is a growing understanding of the
physiology underlying the mindbody connection, and in particular, the role
that different feelings can have on our bodys function. Health psychology
researchers working in the fields of psychosomatic medicine and
psychoneuroimmunology, for example, are interested in understanding how
psychological factors can get under the skin and influence our physiology in
order to better understand how factors like stress can make us sick.
Stress And Health

You probably know exactly what its like to feel stress, but what you may not
know is that it can objectively influence your health. Answers to questions like,
How stressed do you feel? or How overwhelmed do you feel? can predict
your likelihood of developing both minor illnesses as well as serious problems
like future heart attack (Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller, 2007). (Want to
measure your own stress level? Check out the links at the end of the chapter.)
To understand how health psychologists study these types of associations, we
will describe one famous example of a stress and health study. Imagine that
you are a research subject for a moment. After you check into a hotel room as
part of the study, the researchers ask you to report your general levels of stress.
Not too surprising; however, what happens next is that you receive droplets of
cold virus into your nose! The researchers intentionally try to make you sick by
exposing you to an infectious illness. After they expose you to the virus, the
2129
researchers will then evaluate you for several days by asking you questions
about your symptoms, monitoring how much mucus you are producing by
weighing your used tissues, and taking body fluid samplesall to see if you are
objectively ill with a cold. Now, the interesting thing is that not everyone who
has drops of cold virus put in their nose develops the illness. Studies like this
one find that people who are less stressed and those who are more positive at
the beginning of the study are at a decreased risk of developing a cold (Cohen,
Tyrrell, & Smith, 1991; Cohen, Alper, Doyle, Treanor, & Turner, 2006) (see Figure
1 for an example).
Source: Adapted from Cohen et al. 1991
2130
Importantly, it is not just major life stressors (e.g., a family death, a natural
disaster) that increase the likelihood of getting sick. Even small daily hassles
like getting stuck in traffic or fighting with your girlfriend can raise your blood
pressure, alter your stress hormones, and even suppress your immune system
function (DeLongis, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1988; Twisk, Snel, Kemper, & van
Machelen, 1999).
It is clear that stress plays a major role in our mental and physical health,
but what exactly is it? The term stress was originally derived from the field of
mechanics where it is used to describe materials under pressure. The word
was first used in a psychological manner by researcher Hans Selye. He was
examining the effect of an ovarian hormone that he thought caused sickness
in a sample of rats. Surprisingly, he noticed that almost any injected hormone
produced this same sickness. He smartly realized that it was not the hormone
under investigation that was causing these problems, but instead, the aversive
experience of being handled and injected by researchers that led to high
physiological arousal and, eventually, to health problems like ulcers. Selye
(1946) coined the term stressor to label a stimulus that had this effect on the
body and developed a model of the stress response called the General
Adaptation Syndrome. Since then, psychologists have studied stress in a
myriad of ways, including stress as negative events (e.g., natural disasters or
major life changes like dropping out of school), as chronically difficult situations
(e.g., taking care of a loved one with Alzheimers), as short-term hassles, as a
biological fight-or-flight response, and even as clinical illness like post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). It continues to be one of the most important and wellstudied psychological correlates of illness, because excessive stress causes
potentially damaging wear and tear on the body and can influence almost any
imaginable disease process.
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Protecting Our Health

An important question that health psychologists ask is: What keeps us protected
from disease and alive longer? When considering this issue of resilience (Rutter,
1985), five factors are often studied in terms of their ability to protect (or
sometimes harm) health. They are:
1. Coping
2. Control and Self-Efficacy
3. Social Relationships
4. Dispositions and Emotions
5. Stress Management
Coping Strategies
How individuals cope with the stressors they face can have a significant impact
on health. Coping is often classified into two categories: problem-focused
coping or emotion-focused coping (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989).
Problem-focused coping is thought of as actively addressing the event that is
causing stress in an effort to solve the issue at hand. For example, say you have
an important exam coming up next week. A problem-focused strategy might
be to spend additional time over the weekend studying to make sure you
understand all of the material. Emotion-focused coping, on the other hand,
regulates the emotions that come with stress. In the above examination
example, this might mean watching a funny movie to take your mind off the
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anxiety you are feeling. In the short term, emotion-focused coping might reduce
feelings of stress, but problem-focused coping seems to have the greatest
impact on mental wellness (Billings & Moos, 1981; Herman-Stabl, Stemmler, &
Petersen, 1995). That being said, when events are uncontrollable (e.g., the death
of a loved one), emotion-focused coping directed at managing your feelings, at
first, might be the better strategy. Therefore, it is always important to consider
the match of the stressor to the coping strategy when evaluating its plausible
benefits.
Control and Self-Efficacy

Another factor tied to better health outcomes and an improved ability to cope
with stress is having the belief that you have control over a situation. For
example, in one study where participants were forced to listen to unpleasant
(stressful) noise, those who were led to believe that they had control over the
noise performed much better on proofreading tasks afterwards (Glass & Singer,
1972). In other words, even though participants did not have actual control
over the noise, the control belief aided them in completing the task. In similar
studies, perceived control benefited immune system functioning (Sieber et al.,
1992). Outside of the laboratory, studies have shown that older residents in
assisted living facilities, which are notorious for low control, lived longer and
showed better health outcomes when given control over something as simple
as watering a plant or choosing when student volunteers came to visit (Rodin
& Langer, 1977; Schulz & Hanusa, 1978). In addition, feeling in control of a
threatening situation can actually change stress hormone levels (Dickerson &
Kemeny, 2004). Believing that you have control over your own behaviors can
also have a positive influence on important outcomes like smoking cessation,
contraception use, and weight management (Wallston & Wallston, 1978). When
individuals do not believe they have control, they do not try to change. Selfefficacy is closely related to control, in that people with high levels of this trait
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believe they can complete tasks and reach their goals. Just as feeling in control
can reduce stress and improve health, higher self-efficacy can reduce stress
and negative health behaviors, and is associated with better health (OLeary,
1985).
Social Relationships
Research has shown that the impact of social isolation on our risk for disease
and death is similar in magnitude to the risk associated with smoking regularly
(Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010; House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988). In
fact, the importance of social relationships for our health is so significant that
some scientists believe our body has developed a physiological system that
encourages us to seek out our relationships, especially in times of stress (Taylor
et al., 2000). Social integration is the concept used to describe the number of
social roles that you have (Cohen & Wills, 1985), as well as the lack of isolation.
For example, you might be a daughter, a basketball team member, a Humane
Society volunteer, a coworker, and a student. Maintaining these different roles
can improve your health via encouragement from those around you to maintain
a healthy lifestyle. Those in your social network might also provide you with
social support (e.g., when you are under stress). This support might include
emotional help (e.g., a hug when you need it), tangible help (e.g., lending you
money), or advice. By helping to improve health behaviors and reduce stress,
social relationships can have a powerful, protective impact on health, and in
some cases, might even help people with serious illnesses stay alive longer
(Spiegel, Kraemer, Bloom, & Gottheil, 1989).
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Dispositions and Emotions: Whats Risky and Whats

Protective?
Negative dispositions and personality traits have been strongly tied to an array
of health risks. One of the earliest negative trait-to-health connections was
discovered in the 1950s by two cardiologists. They made the interesting
discovery that there were common behavioral and psychological patterns
among their heart patients that were not present in other patient samples. This
pattern included being competitive, impatient, hostile, and time urgent. They
labeled it Type A Behavior. Importantly, it was found to be associated with
double the risk of heart disease as compared with Type B Behavior (Friedman
& Rosenman, 1959). Since the 1950s, researchers have discovered that it is the
hostility and competitiveness components of Type A that are especially harmful
to heart health (Iribarren et al., 2000; Matthews, Glass, Rosenman, & Bortner,
1977; Miller, Smith, Turner, Guijarro, & Hallet, 1996). Hostile individuals are
quick to get upset, and this angry arousal can damage the arteries of the heart.
In addition, given their negative personality style, hostile people often lack a
heath-protective supportive social network.
Positive traits and states, on the other hand, are often health protective. For
example, characteristics like positive emotions (e.g., feeling happy or excited)
have been tied to a wide range of benefits such as increased longevity, a reduced
likelihood of developing some illnesses, and better outcomes once you are
diagnosed with certain diseases (e.g., heart disease, HIV) (Pressman & Cohen,
2005). Across the world, even in the most poor and underdeveloped nations,
positive emotions are consistently tied to better health (Pressman, Gallagher,
& Lopez, 2013). Positive emotions can also serve as the antidote to stress,
protecting us against some of its damaging effects (Fredrickson, 2001; Pressman
& Cohen, 2005; see Figure 2). Similarly, looking on the bright side can also
improve health. Optimism has been shown to improve coping, reduce stress,
and predict better disease outcomes like recovering from a heart attack more
2135
rapidly (Kubzansky, Sparrow, Vokonas, & Kawachi, 2001; Nes & Segerstrom,
2006; Scheier & Carver, 1985; Segerstrom, Taylor, Kemeny, & Fahey, 1998).
Figure 2. This figure illustrates one possible way that positive affect protects individuals
against disease. Positive affect can reduce stress perceptions (a), thereby improving health
behaviors (b) and lowering physiological stress responses (c) (e.g., decreased cardiovascular
reactivity, lower stress hormones, non-suppressed immune activity). As a result, there is likely
to be less incidence of disease (d, e). (Adapted from Pressman & Cohen, 2005)
2136
Stress Management
About 20 percent of Americans report having stress, with 1833 year-olds
reporting the highest levels (American Psychological Association, 2012). Given
that the sources of our stress are often difficult to change (e.g., personal
finances, current job), a number of interventions have been designed to help
reduce the aversive responses to duress. For example, relaxation activities and
forms of meditation are techniques that allow individuals to reduce their stress
via breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, and mental imagery. Physiological
arousal from stress can also be reduced via biofeedback, a technique where
the individual is shown bodily information that is not normally available to them
(e.g., heart rate), and then taught strategies to alter this signal. This type of
intervention has even shown promise in reducing heart and hypertension risk,
as well as other serious conditions (e.g., Moravec, 2008; Patel, Marmot, & Terry,
1981). But reducing stress does not have to be complicated! For example,
exercise is a great stress reduction activity (Salmon, 2001) that has a myriad of
health benefits.
The Importance Of Good Health Practices

As a student, you probably strive to maintain good grades, to have an active
social life, and to stay healthy (e.g., by getting enough sleep), but there is a
popular joke about what its like to be in college: you can only pick two of these
things (see Figure 3 for an example). The busy life of a college student doesnt
always allow you to maintain all three areas of your life, especially during testtaking periods. In one study, researchers found that students taking exams
were more stressed and, thus, smoked more, drank more caffeine, had less
physical activity, and had worse sleep habits (Oaten & Chang, 2005), all of which
could have detrimental effects on their health. Positive health practices are
especially important in times of stress when your immune system is
2137
compromised due to high stress and the elevated frequency of exposure to the
illnesses of your fellow students in lecture halls, cafeterias, and dorms.
Figure 3: A popular joke about how difficult it is to stay balanced and healthy during college.
Psychologists study both health behaviors and health habits. The former
are behaviors that can improve or harm your health. Some examples include
regular exercise, flossing, and wearing sunscreen, versus negative behaviors
like drunk driving, pulling all-nighters, or smoking. These behaviors become
habits when they are firmly established and performed automatically. For
example, do you have to think about putting your seatbelt on or do you do it
automatically? Habits are often developed early in life thanks to parental
encouragement or the influence of our peer group.
While these behaviors sound minor, studies have shown that those who
engaged in more of these protective habits (e.g., getting 78 hours of sleep
regularly, not smoking or drinking excessively, exercising) had fewer illnesses,
felt better, and were less likely to die over a 912-year follow-up period (Belloc
2138
& Breslow 1972; Breslow & Enstrom 1980).
For college students, health
behaviors can even influence academic performance. For example, poor sleep
quality and quantity are related to weaker learning capacity and academic
performance (Curcio, Ferrara, & De Gennaro, 2006). Due to the effects that
health behaviors can have, much effort is put forward by psychologists to
understand how to change unhealthy behaviors, and to understand why
individuals fail to act in healthy ways. Health promotion involves enabling
individuals to improve health by focusing on behaviors that pose a risk for future
illness, as well as spreading knowledge on existing risk factors. These might be
genetic risks you are born with, or something you developed over time like
obesity, which puts you at risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, among
other illnesses.
Psychology And Medicine

There are many psychological factors that influence medical treatment
outcomes. For example, older individuals, (Meara, White, & Cutler, 2004),
women (Briscoe, 1987), and those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds
(Adamson, Ben-Shlomo, Chaturvedi, & Donovan, 2008) are all more likely to
seek medical care. On the other hand, some individuals who need care might
avoid it due to financial obstacles or preconceived notions about medical
practitioners or the illness.
Thanks to the growing amount of medical
information online, many people now use the Internet for health information
and 38% percent report that this influences their decision to see a doctor (Fox
& Jones, 2009).
Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing because
individuals tend to do a poor job assessing the credibility of health information.

For example, college-student participants reading online articles about HIV and
syphilis rated a physicians article and a college students article as equally
credible if the participants said they were familiar with the health topic (Eastin,
2001).
Credibility of health information often means how accurate or
2139
trustworthy the information is, and it can be influenced by irrelevant factors,

such as the websites design, logos, or the organizations contact information
(Freeman & Spyridakis, 2004). Similarly, many people post health questions on
online, unmoderated forums where anyone can respond, which allows for the
possibility of inaccurate information being provided for serious medical
conditions by unqualified individuals.
After individuals decide to seek care, there is also variability in the
information they give their medical provider. Poor communication (e.g., due
to embarrassment or feeling rushed) can influence the accuracy of the diagnosis
and the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment. Similarly, there is variation
following a visit to the doctor. While most individuals are tasked with a health
recommendation (e.g., buying and using a medication appropriately, losing
weight, going to another expert), not everyone adheres to medical
recommendations (Dunbar-Jacob & Mortimer-Stephens, 2010). For example,
many individuals take medications inappropriately (e.g., stopping early, not
filling prescriptions) or fail to change their behaviors (e.g., quitting smoking).
Unfortunately, getting patients to follow medical orders is not as easy as one
would think. For example, in one study, over one third of diabetic patients failed
to get proper medical care that would prevent or slow down diabetes-related
blindness (Schoenfeld, Greene, Wu, & Leske, 2001)! Fortunately, as mobile
technology improves, physicians now have the ability to monitor adherence
and work to improve it (e.g., with pill bottles that monitor if they are opened at
the right time).
Even text messages are useful for improving treatment
adherence and outcomes in depression, smoking cessation, and weight loss

(Cole-Lewis, & Kershaw, 2010).
2140
Being A Health Psychologist

Training as a clinical health psychologist provides a variety of possible career
options. Clinical health psychologists often work on teams of physicians, social
workers, allied health professionals, and religious leaders. These teams may
be formed in locations like rehabilitation centers, hospitals, primary care offices,
emergency care centers, or in chronic illness clinics. Work in each of these
settings will pose unique challenges in patient care, but the primary
responsibility will be the same. Clinical health psychologists will evaluate
physical, personal, and environmental factors contributing to illness and
preventing improved health. In doing so, they will then help create a treatment
strategy that takes into account all dimensions of a persons life and health,
which maximizes its potential for success. Those who specialize in health
psychology can also conduct research to discover new health predictors and
risk factors, or develop interventions to prevent and treat illness. Researchers
studying health psychology work in numerous locations, such as universities,
public health departments, hospitals, and private organizations. In the related
field of behavioral medicine, careers focus on the application of this type of
research. Occupations in this area might include jobs in occupational therapy,
rehabilitation, or preventative medicine. Training as a health psychologist
provides a wide skill set applicable in a number of different professional settings
and career paths.
The Future Of Health Psychology

Much of the past medical research literature provides an incomplete picture of
human health. Health care is often illness care. That is, it focuses on the
management of symptoms and illnesses as they arise. As a result, in many
developed countries, we are faced with several health epidemics that are
difficult and costly to treat. These include obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular
2141
disease, to name a few. The National Institutes of Health have called for
researchers to use the knowledge we have about risk factors to design effective
interventions to reduce the prevalence of preventable illness. Additionally,
there are a growing number of individuals across developed countries with
multiple chronic illnesses and/or lasting disabilities, especially with older age.
Addressing their needs and maintaining their quality of life will require skilled
individuals who understand how to properly treat these populations. Health
psychologists will be on the forefront of work in these areas.
With this focus on prevention, it is important that health psychologists move
beyond studying risk (e.g., depression, stress, hostility, low socioeconomic
status) in isolation, and move toward studying factors that confer resilience and
protection from disease. There is, fortunately, a growing interest in studying
the positive factors that protect our health (e.g., Diener & Chan, 2011; Pressman
& Cohen, 2005; Richman, Kubzansky, Maselko, Kawachi, Choo, & Bauer, 2005)
with evidence strongly indicating that people with higher positivity live longer,
suffer fewer illnesses, and generally feel better. Seligman (2008) has even
proposed a field of Positive Health to specifically study those who exhibit
above average healthsomething we do not think about enough. By shifting
some of the research focus to identifying and understanding these healthpromoting factors, we may capitalize on this information to improve public
health.
Innovative interventions to improve health are already in use and continue
to be studied. With recent advances in technology, we are starting to see great
strides made to improve health with the aid of computational tools. For
example, there are hundreds of simple applications (apps) that use email and
text messages to send reminders to take medication, as well as mobile apps
that allow us to monitor our exercise levels and food intake (in the growing
mobile-health, or m-health, field). These m-health applications can be used to
raise health awareness, support treatment and compliance, and remotely
collect data on a variety of outcomes. Also exciting are devices that allow us to
2142
monitor physiology in real time; for example, to better understand the stressful
situations that raise blood pressure or heart rate. With advances like these,
health psychologists will be able to serve the population better, learn more
about health and health behavior, and develop excellent health-improving
strategies that could be specifically targeted to certain populations or
individuals. These leaps in equipment development, partnered with growing
health psychology knowledge and exciting advances in neuroscience and
genetic research, will lead health researchers and practitioners into an exciting
new time where, hopefully, we will understand more and more about how to
keep people healthy.
2143
Outside Resources
App: 30 iPhone apps to monitor your health
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/iphone-health-app/
Quiz: Hostility
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/hhp/fahey7e/wellness_worksheets/
wellness_worksheet_090.html
Self-assessment: Perceived Stress Scale
http://www.ncsu.edu/assessment/resources/perceived_stress_scale.pdf
Self-assessment: Whats your real age (based on your health practices and
risk factors)?
http://www.realage.com
Video: Try out a guided meditation exercise to reduce your stress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-klfBJlHc
Web: American Psychosomatic Society
http://www.psychosomatic.org/home/index.cfm
Web: APA Division 38, Health Psychology
http://www.health-psych.org
Web: Society of Behavioral Medicine
http://www.sbm.org
1. What psychological factors contribute to health?
2. Which psychosocial constructs and behaviors might help protect us from
the damaging effects of stress?
3. What kinds of interventions might help to improve resilience? Who will these
interventions help the most?
4. How should doctors use research in health psychology when meeting with
patients?
5. Why do clinical health psychologists play a critical role in improving public
health?
Vocabulary
Adherence
In health, it is the ability of a patient to maintain a health behavior prescribed
by a physician. This might include taking medication as prescribed, exercising
more, or eating less high-fat food.
Behavioral medicine
A field similar to health psychology that integrates psychological factors (e.g.,
emotion, behavior, cognition, and social factors) in the treatment of disease.
This applied field includes clinical areas of study, such as occupational therapy,
hypnosis, rehabilitation or medicine, and preventative medicine.
Biofeedback
The process by which physiological signals, not normally available to human
perception, are transformed into easy-to-understand graphs or numbers.
Individuals can then use this information to try to change bodily functioning (e.
g., lower blood pressure, reduce muscle tension).
Biomedical Model of Health

A reductionist model that posits that ill health is a result of a deviation from
normal function, which is explained by the presence of pathogens, injury, or
genetic abnormality.
Biopsychosocial Model of Health

An approach to studying health and human function that posits the importance
of biological, psychological, and social (or environmental) processes.
Chronic disease
A health condition that persists over time, typically for periods longer than three
months (e.g., HIV, asthma, diabetes).
Control
Feeling like you have the power to change your environment or behavior if you
need or want to.
Daily hassles
Irritations in daily life that are not necessarily traumatic, but that cause
difficulties and repeated stress.
Emotion-focused coping
Coping strategy aimed at reducing the negative emotions associated with a
stressful event.
General Adaptation Syndrome

A three-phase model of stress, which includes a mobilization of physiological
resources phase, a coping phase, and an exhaustion phase (i.e., when an
organism fails to cope with the stress adequately and depletes its resources).
Health
According to the World Health Organization, it is a complete state of physical,
mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Health behavior
Any behavior that is related to healtheither good or bad.
Hostility
An experience or trait with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components.
It often includes cynical thoughts, feelings of emotion, and aggressive behavior.
Mindbody connection
The idea that our emotions and thoughts can affect how our body functions.
Problem-focused coping
A set of coping strategies aimed at improving or changing stressful situations.
Psychoneuroimmunology
A field of study examining the relationship among psychology, brain function,
and immune function.
Psychosomatic medicine
An interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on how biological, psychological,
and social processes contribute to physiological changes in the body and health
over time.
Resilience
The ability to bounce back from negative situations (e.g., illness, stress) to
normal functioning or to simply not show poor outcomes in the face of adversity.
In some cases, resilience may lead to better functioning following the negative
experience (e.g., post-traumatic growth).
Self-efficacy
The belief that one can perform adequately in a specific situation.
Social integration
The size of your social network, or number of social roles (e.g., son, sister,
student, employee, team member).
Social support
The perception or actuality that we have a social network that can help us in
times of need and provide us with a variety of useful resources (e.g., advice,
love, money).
Stress
A pattern of physical and psychological responses in an organism after it
perceives a threatening event that disturbs its homeostasis and taxes its abilities
to cope with the event.
Stressor
An event or stimulus that induces feelings of stress.
Type A Behavior
Type A behavior is characterized by impatience, competitiveness, neuroticism,
hostility, and anger.
Type B Behavior
Type B behavior reflects the absence of Type A characteristics and is represented
by less competitive, aggressive, and hostile behavior patterns.
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Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. The Healthy Life by Emily Hooker and Sarah
Pressman is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Happiness: The Science of

Subjective Well-Being
Edward Diener
nobaproject.com
Abstract
Subjective well-being (SWB) is the scientific term for happiness and life
satisfactionthinking and feeling that your life is going well, not badly. Scientists
rely primarily on self-report surveys to assess the happiness of individuals, but
they have validated these scales with other types of measures. Peoples levels
of subjective well-being are influenced by both internal factors, such as
personality and outlook, and external factors, such as the society in which they
live. Some of the major determinants of subjective well-being are a persons
inborn temperament, the quality of their social relationships, the societies they
live in, and their ability to meet their basic needs. To some degree people adapt
to conditions so that over time our circumstances may not influence our
happiness as much as one might predict they would. Importantly, researchers
have also studied the outcomes of subjective well-being and have found that
happy people are more likely to be healthier and live longer, to have better
social relationships, and to be more productive at work. In other words, people
high in subjective well-being seem to be healthier and function more effectively
compared to people who are chronically stressed, depressed, or angry. Thus,
happiness does not just feel good, but it is good for people and for those around
them.
Learning Objectives
Describe three major forms of happiness and a cause of each of them.
Be able to list two internal causes of subjective well-being and two external
causes of subjective well-being.
Describe the types of societies that experience the most and least
happiness, and why they do.
Describe the typical course of adaptation to events in terms of the time

course of SWB.
Describe several of the beneficial outcomes of being a happy person.
Describe how happiness is typically measured.
Introduction
When people describe what they most want out of life, happiness is almost
always on the list, and very frequently it is at the top of the list. When people
describe what they want in life for their children, they frequently mention health
and wealth, occasionally they mention fame or successbut they almost always
mention happiness. People will claim that whether their kids are wealthy and
work in some prestigious occupation or not, I just want my kids to be happy.
Happiness appears to be one of the most important goals for people, if not the
most important. But what is it, and how do people get it?
In this chapter I describe happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) as a
processit results from certain internal and external causes, and in turn it
influences the way people behave, as well as their physiological states. Thus,
high SWB is not just a pleasant outcome but is an important factor in our future
success. Because scientists have developed valid ways of measuring
happiness, they have come in the past decades to know much about its causes
and consequences.
Types of Happiness
Philosophers debated the nature of happiness for thousands of years, but
scientists have recently discovered that happiness means different things.
Three major types of happiness are high life satisfaction, frequent positive
feelings, and infrequent negative feelings (Diener, 1984). Subjective wellbeing is the label given by scientists to the various forms of happiness taken
together. Although there are additional forms of SWB, the three in the table
below have been studied extensively. The table also shows that the causes of
the different types of happiness can be somewhat different.
nobaproject.com - Happiness: The Science of Subjective Well-Being
2161
Table 1. Three Types of Subjective Well-Being
You can see in the table that there are different causes of happiness, and
that these causes are not identical for the various types of SWB. Therefore,
there is no single key, no magic wandhigh SWB is achieved by combining
several different important elements (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2008). Thus,
people who promise to know the key to happiness are oversimplifying.
Some people experience all three elements of happinessthey are very
satisfied, enjoy life, and have only a few worries or other unpleasant emotions.
Other unfortunate people are missing all three. Most of us also know individuals
who have one type of happiness but not another. For example, imagine an
elderly person who is completely satisfied with her lifeshe has done most
everything she ever wantedbut is not currently enjoying life that much
because of the infirmities of age. There are others who show a different pattern,
for example, who really enjoy life but also experience a lot of stress, anger, and
worry. And there are those who are having fun, but who are dissatisfied and
believe they are wasting their lives. Because there are several components to
happiness, each with somewhat different causes, there is no magic single cureall that creates all forms of SWB. This means that to be happy, individuals must
acquire each of the different elements that cause it.
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Causes of Subjective Well-Being

There are external influences on peoples happinessthe circumstances in
which they live. It is possible for some to be happy living in poverty with ill health,
or with a child who has a serious disease, but this is difficult. In contrast, it is
easier to be happy if one has supportive family and friends, ample resources
to meet ones needs, and good health. But even here there are exceptions
people who are depressed and unhappy while living in excellent circumstances.
Thus, people can be happy or unhappy because of their personalities and the
way they think about the world or because of the external circumstances in
which they live. People vary in their propensity to happinessin their
personalities and outlookand this means that knowing their living conditions
is not enough to predict happiness.
In the table below are shown internal and external circumstances that
influence happiness. There are individual differences in what makes people
happy, but the causes in the table are important for most people (Diener, Suh,
Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Lyubomirsky, 2013; Myers, 1992).
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Table 2. Internal and External Causes of Subjective Well-Being
Societal Influences on Happiness

When people consider their own happiness, they tend to think of their
relationships, successes and failures, and other personal factors. But a very
important influence on how happy people are is the society in which they live.
It is easy to forget how important societies and neighborhoods are to peoples
happiness or unhappiness. In Figure 1, I present life satisfaction around the
world. You can see that some nations, colored bright green, are high in life
2164
satisfaction. Others, colored red, are very low. The grey areas in the map are
places we could not collect happiness datathey were just too dangerous or
inaccessible.
Figure 1
Can you guess what might make some societies happier than others? Much
of North America and Europe have relatively high life satisfaction, and much of
Africa is low in life satisfaction. For life satisfaction living in an economically
developed nation is helpful because when people must struggle to obtain food,
shelter, and other basic necessities, they tend to be dissatisfied with lives.
However, other factors, such as trusting and being able to count on others, are
also crucial to the happiness within nations. Indeed, for enjoying life our
relationships with others seem more important than living in a wealthy society.
One factor that predicts unhappiness is conflictindividuals in nations with
high internal conflict or conflict with neighboring nations tend to experience
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low SWB.
Money and Happiness

Will money make you happy? A certain level of income is needed to meet our
needs, and very poor people are frequently dissatisfied with life (Diener &
Seligman, 2004). However, having more and more money has diminishing
returnshigher and higher incomes make less and less difference to happiness.
Wealthy nations tend to have higher average life satisfaction than poor nations,
but the United States has not experienced a rise in life satisfaction over the past
decades, even as income has doubled. The goal is to find a level of income that
you can live with and earn. Dont let your aspirations continue to rise so that
you always feel poor, no matter how much money you have. Research shows
that materialistic people often tend to be less happy, and putting your emphasis
on relationships and other areas of life besides just money is a wise strategy.
Money can help life satisfaction, but when too many other valuable things are
sacrificed to earn a lot of moneysuch as relationships or taking a less
enjoyable jobthe pursuit of money can harm happiness.
There are stories of wealthy people who are unhappy and of janitors who
are very happy. For instance, a number of extremely wealthy people in South
Korea have committed suicide recently, apparently brought down by stress and
other negative feelings. On the other hand, there is the hospital janitor who
loved her life because she felt that her work in keeping the hospital clean was
so important for the patients and nurses. Some millionaires are dissatisfied
because they want to be billionaires. Conversely, some people with ordinary
incomes are quite happy because they have learned to live within their means
and enjoy the less expensive things in life.
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It is important to always keep in mind that high materialism seems to lower

life satisfactionvaluing money over other things such as relationships can
make us dissatisfied. When people think money is more important than
everything else, they seem to have a harder time being happy. And unless they
make a great deal of money, they are not on average as happy as others. Perhaps
in seeking money they sacrifice other important things too much, such as
relationships, spirituality, or following their interests. Or it may be that
materialists just can never get enough money to fulfill their dreamsthey
always want more.
To sum up what makes for a happy life, lets take the example of Monoj, a
rickshaw driver in Calcutta. He enjoys life, despite the hardships, and is
reasonably satisfied with life. How could he be relatively happy despite his very
low income, sometimes even insufficient to buy enough food for his family?
The things that make Monoj happy are his family and friends, his religion, and
his work, which he finds meaningful. His low income does lower his life
satisfaction to some degree, but he finds his children to be very rewarding, and
he gets along well with his neighbors. I also suspect that Monojs positive
temperament and his enjoyment of social relationships help to some degree
to overcome his poverty and earn him a place among the happy. However,
Monoj would also likely be even more satisfied with life if he had a higher income
that allowed more food, better housing, and better medical care for his family.
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Figure 2. Monoj, a Happy Rickshaw Driver in Calcutta
Besides the internal and external factors that influence happiness, there are
psychological influences as wellsuch as our aspirations, social comparisons,
and adaptation. Peoples aspirations are what they want in life, including
income, occupation, marriage, and so forth. If peoples aspirations are high,
they will often strive harder, but there is also a risk of them falling short of their
aspirations and being dissatisfied. The goal is to have challenging aspirations
but also to be able to adapt to what actually happens in life.
Ones outlook and resilience are also always very important to happiness.
Every person will have disappointments in life, fail at times, and have problems.
Thus, happiness comes not to people who never have problemsthere are no
such individualsbut to people who are able to bounce back from failures and
adapt to disappointments. This is why happiness is never caused just by what
happens to us but always includes our outlook on life.
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Adaptation to Circumstances
The process of adaptation is important in understanding happiness. When
good and bad events occur, people often react strongly at first, but then their
reactions adapt over time and they return to their former levels of happiness.
For instance, many people are euphoric when they first marry, but over time
they grow accustomed to the marriage and are no longer ecstatic. The marriage
becomes commonplace and they return to their former level of happiness. Few
of us think this will happen to us, but the truth is that it usually does. Some
people will be a bit happier even years after marriage, but nobody carries that
initial high through the years.
People also adapt over time to bad events. However, people take a long time
to adapt to certain negative events such as unemployment. People become
unhappy when they lose their work, but over time they recover to some extent.
But even after a number of years, unemployed individuals sometimes have
lower life satisfaction, indicating that they have not completely habituated to
the experience. However, there are strong individual differences in adaptation,
too. Some people are resilient and bounce back quickly after a bad event, and
others are fragile and do not ever fully adapt to the bad event. Do you adapt
quickly to bad events and bounce back, or do you continue to dwell on a bad
event and let it keep you down?
An example of adaptation to circumstances is shown in Figure 3, which shows
the daily moods of Harry, a college student who had Hodgkins lymphoma (a
form of cancer). As can be seen, over the 6-week period when I studied Harrys
moods, they went up and down. A few times his moods dropped into the
negative zone below the horizontal blue line. Most of the time Harrys moods
were in the positive zone above the line. But about halfway through the study
Harry was told that his cancer was in remissioneffectively curedand his
moods on that day spiked way up. But notice that he quickly adaptedthe
effects of the good news wore off, and Harry adapted back toward where he
2169
was before. So even the very best news one can imaginerecovering from
cancerwas not enough to give Harry a permanent high. Notice too, however,
that Harrys moods averaged a bit higher after cancer remission. Thus, the
typical pattern is a strong response to the event, and then a dampening of this
joy over time. However, even in the long run, the person might be a bit happier
or unhappier than before.
Figure 3. Harrys Daily Moods
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Outcomes of High Subjective Well-Being

Is the state of happiness truly a good thing? Is happiness simply a feel-good
state that leaves us unmotivated and ignorant of the worlds problems? Should
people strive to be happy, or are they better off to be grumpy but realistic?
Some have argued that happiness is actually a bad thing, leaving us superficial
and uncaring. Most of the evidence so far suggests that happy people are
healthier, more sociable, more productive, and better citizens (Diener & Tay,
2012; Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). Research shows that the happiest
individuals are usually very sociable. The table below summarizes some of the
major findings.
Although it is beneficial generally to be happy, this does not mean that people
should be constantly euphoric. In fact, it is appropriate and helpful sometimes
to be sad or to worry. At times a bit of worry mixed with positive feelings makes
people more creative. Most successful people in the workplace seem to be
those who are mostly positive but sometimes a bit negative. Thus, people need
not be a superstar in happiness to be a superstar in life. What is not helpful is
to be chronically unhappy. The important question is whether people are
satisfied with how happy they are. If you feel mostly positive and satisfied, and
yet occasionally worry and feel stressed, this is probably fine as long as you feel
comfortable with this level of happiness. If you are a person who is chronically
unhappy much of the time, changes are needed, and perhaps professional
intervention would help as well.
Measuring Happiness
SWB researchers have relied primarily on self-report scales to assess happiness
how people rate their own happiness levels on self-report surveys. People
respond to numbered scales to indicate their levels of satisfaction, positive
feelings, and lack of negative feelings. You can see where you stand on these
2171
scales by going to or by filling out the Flourishing Scale below. These measures
will give you an idea of what popular scales of happiness are like.
2172
2173
The Flourishing Scale
The self-report scales have proved to be relatively valid (Diener, Inglehart,

& Tay, 2012), although people can lie, or fool themselves, or be influenced by
their current moods or situational factors. Because the scales are imperfect,
well-being scientists also sometimes use biological measures of happiness (e.
g., the strength of a persons immune system, or measuring various brain areas
that are associated with greater happiness). Scientists also use reports by family,
coworkers, and friendsthese people reporting how happy they believe the
target person is. Other measures are used as well to help overcome some of
the shortcomings of the self-report scales, but most of the field is based on
people telling us how happy they are using numbered scales.
There are scales to measure life satisfaction (Pavot & Diener, 2008), positive
and negative feelings, and whether a person is psychologically flourishing
(Diener et al., 2009). Flourishing has to do with whether a person feels meaning
in life, has close relationships, and feels a sense of mastery over important life
activities. You can take the well-being scales created in the Diener laboratory,
and let others take them too, because they are free and open for use.
Some Ways to Be Happier

Most people are fairly happy, but many of them also wish they could be a bit
more satisfied and enjoy life more. Prescriptions about how to achieve more
happiness are often oversimplified because happiness has different
components and prescriptions need to be aimed at where each individual needs
improvementone size does not fit all. A person might be strong in one area
and deficient in other areas. People with prolonged serious unhappiness might
need help from a professional. Thus, recommendations for how to achieve
happiness are often appropriate for one person but not for others. With this in
mind, I list in Table 4 below some general recommendations for you to be
2174
happier (see also Lyubomirsky, 2013):
Table 4
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Outside Resources
Video: Recipes for Happiness - Interview with Ed Diener
http://tinyurl.com/qao7vs6
Video: Recipes for Happiness - Interview with Ruut Veenhoven
http://tinyurl.com/osmeu3b
Web: Barbara Fredricksons website on positive emotions
http://www.unc.edu/peplab/news.html
Web: Ed Dieners website
http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/
Web: International Positive Psychology Association
http://www.ippanetwork.org/
Web: Positive Acorn Positive Psychology website
http://positiveacorn.com/
Web: Sonja Lyubomirskys website on happiness
http://sonjalyubomirsky.com/
Web: University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center website
http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/
Web: World Database on Happiness
http://www1.eur.nl/fsw/happiness/
1. Which do you think is more important, the top-down personality influences
on happiness or the bottom-up situational circumstances that influence
it? In other words, discuss whether internal sources such as personality and
outlook or external factors such situations, circumstances, and events are
more important to happiness. Can you make an argument that both are
very important?
2. Do you know people who are happy in one way but not in others? People
who are high in life satisfaction, for example, but low in enjoying life or high
in negative feelings? What should they do to increase their happiness across
all three types of subjective well-being?
3. Certain sources of happiness have been emphasized in this book, but there
are others. Can you think of other important sources of happiness and
unhappiness? Do you think religion, for example, is a positive source of
happiness for most people? What about age or ethnicity? What about health
and physical handicaps? If you were a researcher, what question might you
tackle on the influences on happiness?
4. Are you satisfied with your level of happiness? If not, are there things you
might do to change it? Would you function better if you were happier?
5. How much happiness is helpful to make a society thrive? Do people need
some worry and sadness in life to help us avoid bad things? When is
satisfaction a good thing, and when is some dissatisfaction a good thing?
6. How do you think money can help happiness? Interfere with happiness?
What level of income will you need to be satisfied?
Vocabulary
Adaptation
The fact that after people first react to good or bad events, sometimes in a
strong way, their feelings and reactions tend to dampen down over time and
they return toward their original level of subjective well-being.
Bottom-up or external causes of happiness
Situational factors outside the person that influence his or her subjective wellbeing, such as good and bad events and circumstances such as health and
wealth.
Happiness
The popular word for subjective well-being. Scientists sometimes avoid using
this term because it can refer to different things, such as feeling good, being
satisfied, or even the causes of high subjective well-being.
Life satisfaction
A person reflects on their life and judges to what degree it is going well, by
whatever standards that person thinks are most important for a good life.
Negative feelings
Undesirable and unpleasant feelings that people tend to avoid if they can.
Moods and emotions such as depression, anger, and worry are examples.
Positive feelings
Desirable and pleasant feelings. Moods and emotions such as enjoyment and
love are examples.
Subjective well-being
The name that scientists give to happinessthinking and feeling that our lives
are going very well.
Subjective well-being scales
Self-report surveys or questionnaires in which participants indicate their levels
of subjective well-being, by responding to items with a number that indicates
how well off they feel.
Top-down or internal causes of happiness
The persons outlook and habitual response tendencies that influence their
happinessfor example, their temperament or optimistic outlook on life.
Reference List
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542575.
Diener, E., Inglehart, R., & Tay, L. (2012). Theory and validity of life satisfaction
scales. Social Indicators Research, in press.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being:
Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276302.
Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener,
R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative
feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247266.
Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2008). Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of
psychological wealth. Malden, MA: Wiley/Blackwell.
Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of
well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 131.
Diener, E., & Tay, L. (2012). The remarkable benefits of happiness for successful
and healthy living. Report of the Well-Being Working Group, Royal
Government of Bhutan. Report to the United Nations General Assembly:
Well-Being and Happiness: A New Development Paradigm.
Lyubomirsky, S. (2013). The myths of happiness: What should make you happy,
but doesnt, what shouldnt make you happy, but does. New York, NY:
Penguin.
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive

855.
Myers, D. G. (1992). The pursuit of happiness: Discovering pathways to
fulfillment, well-being, and enduring personal joy. New York, NY: Avon.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (2008). The Satisfaction with life scale and the emerging
construct of life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 137152.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Happiness: The Science of Subjective Well-Being
by Edward Diener is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
Positive Psychology
Robert A. Emmons
nobaproject.com
Abstract
A brief history of the positive psychology movement is presented, and key
themes within positive psychology are identified. Three important positive
psychology topics are gratitude, forgiveness, and humility. Ten key findings
within the field of positive psychology are put forth, and the most important
empirical findings regarding gratitude, forgiveness, and humility are discussed.
Assessment techniques for these three strengths are described, and
interventions for increasing gratitude, developing forgiveness, and becoming
more humble are briefly considered.
Learning Objectives
Describe what positive psychology is, who started it, and why it came into
existence.
Identify some of the most important findings from the science of positive
psychology with respect to forgiveness, gratitude, and humility.
Explore how positive psychology might make a difference in how you think
about your own life, the nature of human nature, and what is really
important to you.
Introduction
Positive psychology is a popular movement that began in the late 1990s. It is
the branch of psychology that has as its primary focus the on the strengths,
virtues, and talents that contribute to successful functioning and enable
individuals and communities to flourish. Core topics include happiness,
resiliency, well-being, and states of flow and engagement. It was spearheaded
by a former president of the American Psychological Association, Martin
Seligman.
Throughout most of its history, psychology was concerned with identifying
and remedying human ills. It has largely focused on decreasing maladaptive
emotions and behaviors, while generally ignoring positive and optimal
functioning. In contrast, the goal of positive psychology is to identify and
enhance the human strengths and virtues that make life worth living. Unlike
the positive thinking or new thought movements that are associated with
people like Norman Vincent Peale or Rhonda Byrne (The Secret), positive
psychology pursues scientifically informed perspectives on what makes life
worth living. It is empirically based. It focuses on measuring aspects of the
human condition that lead to happiness, fulfillment, and flourishing. The
science of happiness is covered in other chapters within this section of this
book. Therefore, aside from key findings summarized in Table 1, the emphasis
in this chapter will be on other topics within positive psychology.
Moving from an exclusive focus on distress, disorder, and dysfunction,
positive psychology shifts the scientific lens to a concentration on well-being,
health, and optimal functioning. Positive psychology provides a different
vantage point through which to understand human experience. Recent
developments have produced a common framework and that locates the study
of positive states, strengths and virtues in relation to each other and links them
to important life outcomes. Recent developments suggest that problems in
psychological functioning may be more profitably dealt with as the absence,
nobaproject.com - Positive Psychology
2187
excess, or opposite of these strengths rather than traditional diagnostic

categories of mental illness. The principal claim of positive psychology is that
the study of health, fulfillment and well-being is as deserving of study as illness,
dysfunction, and distress, has resonated well with both the academic
community and the general public.
As a relatively new field of research, positive psychology lacked a common
vocabulary for discussing measurable positive traits before 2004. Traditional
psychology benefited from the creation of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM), which provided researchers and clinicians with the
same set of language from which they could talk about the negative. As a first
step in remedying this disparity between traditional and positive psychology,
Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman set out to identify, organize and measure
character. The Values in Action (VIA) classification of strengths was an important
initial step toward specifying important positive traits (Peterson & Seligman,
2004). Peterson and Seligman examined ancient cultures (including their
religions, politics, education and philosophies) for information about how
people in the past construed human virtue. The researchers looked for virtues
that were present across cultures and time. Six core virtues emerged from their
analysis: courage, justice, humanity, temperance, transcendence and wisdom.
The VIA is the positive psychology counterpart to the DSM used in traditional
psychology and psychiatry. Unlike the DSM, which scientifically categorizes
human deficits and disorders, the VIA classifies positive human strengths. This
approach vastly departs from the medical model of traditional psychology,
which focuses on fixing deficits. In contrast, positive psychologists emphasize
that people should focus and build upon on what they are doing well.
The VIA is a tool by which people can identify their own character strengths
and learn how to capitalize on them. It consists of 240 questions that ask
respondents to report the degree to which statements reflecting each of the
strengths apply to themselves. For example, the character strength of hope is
measured with items that include I know that I will succeed with the goals I set
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for myself. The strength of gratitude is measured with such items as At least
once a day, I stop and count my blessings.
Within the United States, the most commonly endorsed strengths are
kindness, fairness, honesty, gratitude and judgment (Park, Peterson & Seligman,
2006). Worldwide, the following strengths were most associated with positive
life satisfaction: hope, zest, gratitude and love. The researchers called these
strengths of the heart. Moreover, strengths associated with knowledge, such
as love of learning and curiosity, were least correlated with life satisfaction (Park,
Peterson & Seligman, 2005).
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Table 1: Ten Key Findings from the Science of Positive Psychology
Three Key Strengths
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Forgiveness, gratitude, and humility are three key strengths that have been the
focus of sustained research programs within positive psychology. What have
we learned about each of these and why do these matter for human flourishing?
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is essential to harmonious long-term relationships between
individuals, whether between spouses or nations, dyads or collectives. At the
level of the individual, forgiveness of self can help one achieve an inner peace
as well as peace with others and with God. Wrongdoing against others can
result in guilt, and self-loathing.
Resentment can give away to hate and
intolerance. Both perpetrator and victim suffer. Conversely, forgiveness can

be an avenue to healing. It is the basic building block of loving relationships
with others. When one person or nation does something to hurt another, the
relationship between the two can be irrevocably damaged. Because the
potential for conflict is seemingly built into human nature, the prospects for
long-term peace may seem faint. Forgiveness offers another way. If the victim
can forgive the perpetrator, the relationship may be restored and possibly even
saved from termination. The essence of forgiveness is that it creates a possibility
for a relationship to recover from the damage caused by the offending partys
offense. Forgiveness is thus a powerful pro-social process. It can benefit human
social life by helping relationships to heal. , on the social level, forgiveness may
be the critical element needed for world peace.
Culligan (2002) wrote
"Forgiveness may ultimately be the most powerful weapon for breaking the
dreadful cycle of violence."
Research is answering fundamental questions about what forgiveness is
and isnt, how it develops, what are its physiological correlates and physical
effects, whether it is always beneficial, and how peopleif they are so motivated
might be helped to forgive. Forgiveness is not excusing, condoning, tolerating,
or forgetting that one has been hurt because of the actions of another.
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Forgiveness is letting go of negative thoughts (e.g. wishing the offender harm),

negative behaviors (e.g. a desire to retaliate, and negative feelings (e.g.
resentment) toward the offender (McCullough, Root, & Cohen, 2006).
There have been numerous studies looking at forgiveness interventions.
The interventions involved counseling and exercises which were used to help
people move from anger and resentment towards forgiveness. In one study,
incest survivors who experienced the forgiveness intervention had at the end
of the intervention increased abilities to forgive others, increased hopefulness
and decreased levels of anxiety and depression. In another study, college
students were randomized to a group that received a forgiveness education
program and another group who studied human relations. The group that
received the forgiveness education program showed higher levels of hope and
an increased willingness to forgive others. This greater self-forgiveness was
associated with increased self-esteem, lower levels of anxiety, lower levels of
depression and a more positive view of their patient. In many of these studies,
it was shown that people who are able to forgive are more likely to have better
interpersonal functioning and therefore social support. The act of forgiveness
can result in less anxiety and depression, better health outcomes, increased
coping with stress, and increased closeness to God and others (Enright, 2001).
Gratitude
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation or thankfulness in response to receiving
a benefit. The emerging science of gratitude has produced some important
findings. From childhood to old age, accumulating evidence documents the
wide array of psychological, physical, and relational benefits associated with
gratitude (Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010). Gratitude is important not only
because it helps us feel good, but also because it inspires us to do good.
Gratitude heals, energizes, and transforms lives in a myriad of ways consistent
with the notion that virtue is both its own reward and produces other rewards
2192
(Emmons, 2007).
To give a flavor of these research findings, dispositional gratitude has been
found to be positively associated qualities such as empathy, forgiveness, and
the willingness to help others. For example, people who rated themselves as
having a grateful disposition perceived themselves as having more socially
helpful characteristics, expressed by their empathetic behavior, and emotional
support for friends within the last month (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).
In our research, when people report feeling grateful, thankful, and appreciative
in their daily lives, they also feel more loving, forgiving, joyful, and enthusiastic.
Notably, the family, friends, partners and others who surround them
consistently report that people who practice gratitude are viewed as more
helpful, more outgoing, more optimistic, and more trustworthy (Emmons &
McCullough, 2003).
Expressing gratitude for lifes blessings that is, a sense of wonder,
thankfulness and appreciation is likely to elevate happiness for a number of
reasons. Grateful thinking fosters the savoring of positive life experiences and
situations, so that people can extract the maximum possible satisfaction and
enjoyment from their circumstances. Counting ones blessings may directly
counteract the effects of hedonic adaptation, the process by which our
happiness level returns, again and again, to its set range, by preventing people
from taking the good things in their lives for granted. If we consciously remind
ourselves of our blessings, it should become harder to take them for granted
and adapt to them. And the very act of viewing good things as gifts itself is likely
to be beneficial for mood. How much does it matter? Consider these eyepopping statistics. People are 25% happier if they keep gratitude journals, sleep
1/2 hour more per evening, and exercise 33% more each week compared to
persons who are not keeping journals. They achieve up to a 10% reduction in
systolic blood pressure, and decrease their dietary fat intake by up to 20%. Lives
marked by frequent positive emotions of joy, love and gratitude are up to 7
years longer than lives bereft of these pleasant feelings.
2193
The science of gratitude has also revealed some surprising findings. For
example, students who practice gratitude increase their grade point average.
Occasional gratitude journaling boosts well-being more than the regular
practice of counting blessings. Remembering ones sorrows, failures, and other
painful experiences is more beneficial to happiness than recalling only
successes. Becoming aware that a very pleasant experience is about to end
enhances feelings of gratitude for it. Thinking about the absence of something
positive in your life produces more gratitude and happiness than imagining its
presence.
To assess your own level of gratefulness, take the test below.
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2195
Table 2: Your Gratitude Quotient
Humility
What is humility and why does it matter? Although the etymological roots of
humility are in lowliness and self-abasement (from the Latin term humilis
meaning lowly, humble, or literally on the ground and from the Latin term
humus meaning "earth"), the emerging consensus among scholars is that
humility is a psychological and intellectual virtue, or a character strength. There
is no simple definition but it seems to involve the following elements: A clear
and accurate (not underestimated) sense of ones abilities and achievements;
the ability to acknowledge ones mistakes, imperfections, gaps in knowledge,
and limitations (often with reference to a higher power); an openness to new
ideas, contradictory information, and advice keeping ones abilities and
accomplishments in perspective; relatively low self-focus or an ability to forget
the self; appreciation of the value of all things, as well as the many different
ways that people and things can contribute to our world. In contemporary
society, it is easy to overlook the merits of humility. In politics, business and
sports, the egoists command our attention. Show me someone without an
ego, said real estate mogul Donald Trump, and Ill show you a loser. In contrast,
the primary message of this book is that the unassuming virtue of humility,
rather than representing weakness or inferiority, as is commonly assumed, is
a strength of character that produces positive, beneficial results for self and
society. Successful people are humble people. They are more likely to flourish
in life, in more domains, than are people who are less humble (Exline & Hill,
2196
2012).
Do you think you are you a humble person? For obvious reasons, you cannot
rate your own level of humility. Its an elusive concept to get at scientifically. I
am very humble is self-contradictory. This has not discouraged personality
psychologists from developing questionnaires to get at it, albeit indirectly. For
example, to what extent do you identify with each of the following statements:
1. I generally have a good idea about the things I do well or do poorly.
2. I have difficulty accepting advice from other people.
3. I try my best in things, but I realize that I have a lot of work to do in many
areas.
4. I am keenly aware of what little I know about the world.
Questions such as these tap various facets of the humble personality,

including an appreciation and recognition of ones limitations, and an accurate
assessment of oneself.
Humble people are more likely to flourish in life, in more domains, than are
people who are less humble. Consider a handful of findings from recent
research studies and surveys:
People who say they feel humble when they are praised report that the
experience made them want to be nice to people, increase their efforts, and
challenge themselves
Humble people are more admired and the trait of humility is viewed
positively by most
2197
Humble teachers are rated as more effective and humble lawyers as more
likeable by jurors
CEOs who possessed a rare combination of extreme humility and strong

professional will were catalysts for transforming a good company into a
great one
Over 80% of adults surveyed indicated that it is important that professionals

demonstrate modesty/humility in their work
Humility is positively associated with academic success in the form of higher

grades (Exline & Hill, 2012).
The science of positive psychology has grown remarkably quickly since it

first appeared on the scene in the late 1990s. Already, considerable progress
has been made in understanding empirically the foundations of a good life.
Knowledge from basic research in positive psychology is being applied in a
number of settings, from psychotherapy to workplace settings to schools and
even to the military (Biswas-Diener, 2011); A proper blend of science and
practice will be required in order for positive psychology to fully realize its
potential in dealing with the future challenges that we face as humans.
2198
Outside Resources
Web: Authentic Happiness.
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
Web: The International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).
http://www.ippanetwork.org/
1. Can you think of people in your life who are very humble? What do they do
or say that expresses their humility? To what extent do you think it would
be good if you were more humble? To what extent do you think it would be
good if you were less humble?
2. How can thinking gratefully about an unpleasant event from your past help
you to deal positively with it? As the result of this event, what kinds of things
do you now feel thankful or grateful for? How has this event benefited you
as a person? How have you grown? Were there personal strengths that grew
out of your experience?
3. Mahatma Gandhi once said, The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the
attribute of the strong. What do you think he meant by this? Do you agree
or disagree? What are some of the obstacles you have faced in your own
life when trying to forgive others?
Vocabulary
Character strength
A positive trait or quality deemed to be morally good and is valued for itself as
well as for promoting individual and collective well-being.
Flourishing
To live optimally psychologically, relationally, and spiritually.
Forgiveness
The letting go of negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward an offender.
Gratitude
A feeling of appreciation or thankfulness in response to receiving a benefit.
Humility
Having an accurate view of selfnot too high or lowand a realistic appraisal
of ones strengths and weaknesses, especially in relation to other people.
Positive psychology
The science of human flourishing. Positive Psychology is an applied science with
an emphasis on real world intervention.
Pro-social
Thoughts, actions, and feelings that are directed towards others and which are
positive in nature.
Reference List
Biswas-Diener, R. (2011). Applied positive psychology: Progress and challenges.
European Health Psychologist, 13, 2426.
Culligan, K. (2002). Prayer and forgiveness: Can psychology help? Spiritual Life,
89,78.
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus
burdens: An
experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily
life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377389.
Emmons, R. A. (2007). Thanks! How the new science of gratitude can make you
happier. Boston. MA: Houghton-Mifflin.
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens:
An
experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily
life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377389.
Enright, R. D. (2001). Forgiveness is a choice. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Exline, J. J., & Hill, P. C. (2012). Humility: A consistent and robust predictor of
generosity. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 208218.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition:
A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social
McCullough, M. E., Root, L. M., & Cohen A. D. (2006). Writing about the benefits
of an interpersonal transgression facilitates forgiveness. Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 887897.
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Character strengths in fiftyfour nations and the fifty U.S. states. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3,
118129.
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Strengths of character and
well-being: A closer look at hope and modesty. Journal of Social and Clinical
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A
handbook and classification. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A
review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 890905.
Copyright 2014 by Diener Education Fund. Positive Psychology by Robert A. Emmons is

licensed
under
the
Creative
Commons
4.0

Optimal Levels of Happiness

Shigehiro Oishi
University of Virginia
nobaproject.com
Abstract
This chapter asks two questions: Is happiness good? and Is happier better?
(i.e., is there any benefit to be happier, even if one is already moderately happy?)
The answer to the first question is by and large yes. The answer to the second
question is, it depends. That is, the optimal level of happiness differs,
depending on specific life domains. In terms of romantic relationships and
volunteer activities, happier is indeed better. In contrast, in terms of income,
education, and political participation, the moderate level of happiness is the
best; beyond the moderate level of happiness, happier is not better.
Learning Objectives
Learn about the research on the relationship between happiness and

important life outcomes.
Learn about the levels of happiness that are associated with the highest
levels of outcomes.
Introduction
Are you happy? If someone asked this question, how would you answer it? Some
of you will surely say yes immediately, while others will hesitate to say yes. As
scientific research on happiness over the past 30 years has repeatedly shown,
there are huge individual variations among levels of happiness (Diener, Suh,
Lucas, & Smith, 1999). Not surprisingly, some people are very happy, while
others are not so happy, and still others are very unhappy. What about the next
question: Do you want to be happy? If someone asked this question, I would
bet the vast majority of college students (in particular, Americans) would
immediately say yes. Although there are large individual differences in the actual
levels of happiness, nearly everyone wants to be happy, and most of us want
to be happier, even if we are already fairly happy (Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007).
The next important questions then are Is happiness good? and Is happier
better? (i.e., is there any benefit to being happier, even if one is already
moderately happy?) This chapter will tackle these two questions.
Is happiness good? The ancient philosopher Aristotle thought so. He argued
that happiness is the ultimate goal of human beings, because everything else,
ranging from being respected by others, to being with a wonderful partner, to
living in a fabulous house, is all instrumental, namely, to achieve some other
goals (Thomson, 1953). In contrast, all other aspirations (e.g., money, health,
reputation, friendship) are instrumental goals pursued in order to meet higher
goals, including happiness. Thus, according to Aristotle, it is only rational that
happiness is the ultimate objective in life. There are of course plenty of thinkers
who disagree with Aristotle and see happiness as a frivolous pursuit. For
instance, the famous French novelist Gustav Flaubert is believed to have said:
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for
happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost (Diener & Biswas-Diener,
2008, p. 19). Flaubert clearly associated happiness with selfishness and
thoughtlessness. So what does the science of happiness tell us about the utility
nobaproject.com - Optimal Levels of Happiness
2208
of happiness?
There are two major reviews on this topic so far (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener,
2005; Veenhoven, 1989). Both reviews found that happiness is good; happy
people tend to be more likely to be successful at work (Cropanzano & Wright,
1999; Roberts, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2003), tend to be more likely to find romantic
partners (Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener, 2003), tend to be better citizens,
engage in more prosocial behaviors (Carlson, Charlin, & Miller, 1988), and tend
to be healthier and live longer than unhappy people (Pressman & Cohen, 2012).
The correlation between happiness and various life outcomes is almost
never negative. That is, harmful effects of happiness are rare. However, the
effect size is modest at best (r = .20.30), with a great deal of heterogeneity,
suggesting that important moderators (particularly individual differences)
remain to be discovered. Thus, although happiness is generally associated with
positive life outcomes, the next important question is whether it is wise to seek
greater happiness when one is already reasonably happy.
A major review on the question of Is happier better? revealed that the
answer depends on life domains (Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007). In achievementrelated domains such as income and education, once one is moderately happy,
greater levels of happiness were not associated with better outcomes. In
contrast, in relationship-related life domains, even if one is moderately happy,
greater levels of happiness were indeed positively associated with better
outcomes. I will describe specific findings below.
In one study, researchers (Diener, Nickerson, Lucas, & Sandvik, 2002)
followed college students from their freshman year until middle adulthood
(when they were in their late 30s). When participants were incoming college
freshman, they reported their cheerfulness. Nineteen years later, at about age
37, the same participants also reported their annual income. There was a
positive association between cheerfulness in the freshman year and income 19
years later; specifically, the participants who were in the highest 10% of
cheerfulness in 1976 earned an average of $62,681 in 1995. In contrast, the
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participants in the lowest 10% of cheerfulness in 1976 earned an average of

$54,318. So, in general, cheerful college students later made more money than
depressed ones. Interestingly, however, this association was not linear. Those
who were moderately cheerful (above average on cheerfulness) in college
earned the most, $66,144. That is, the moderately cheerful college students
were later making nearly $3,500 more than the most cheerful college students.
Thus, if we use income as a criterion, the optimal level of cheerfulness was
not the highest level, but a more moderate level.
Figure 1. Happiness at age 18 and income at age 33 (from Oishi & Koo, 2008). Income is
in Australian dollars.
Diener et al.s (2002) finding has been replicated in other large longitudinal
studies. For instance, Oishi et al. (2007) analyzed the Australian Youth in
Transition study, a longitudinal study of nationally representative cohorts of
young people in Australia and found the non-linear effect of happiness on later
income. Participants in the Australian study indicated their life satisfaction
(satisfaction with life as a whole) when they were 18 years old. They also
reported their gross income when they were 33 years old. Like American data,
Australian data also showed that teenagers satisfied with their lives were later
earning more money than those unsatisfied. However, Australians who were
moderately satisfied when they were 18 years old were making the most in
their 30s rather than those who were very satisfied with their lives. Respondents
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from the Australian Youth in Transition Study also reported the number of years
of schooling they completed beyond primary education when they were 26
years old. Similar to the income findings, the highest levels of education were
reported by those individuals who had moderate levels of satisfaction when
they were 18 years old. The very satisfied teenagers did not pursue as much
education later as teenagers who were moderately satisfied. One reason why
moderately satisfied individuals later made the most money could be due to
the years of education that people pursued: Very satisfied teenagers do not
seem to pursue more education and, therefore, somewhat limiting their earning
in their 30s.
Oishi et al. (2007) also analyzed two other longitudinal data sets: the German
Socio-Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) and the British Household Panel Study
(BHPS). Both studies used nationally representative samples whose participants
were followed longitudinally. These two data sets again showed that people
who were satisfied with their lives early on were making more money years
later than those who were not satisfied with their lives. However, again, the
relationship between earlier life satisfaction and later income was not linear.
That is, as in Australian data depicted in Figure 1, those who were most satisfied
early on were not making as much money as those who were moderately
satisfied.
In short, four large, longitudinal studies conducted in the United States,
United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany all converged to indicate that
happiness is good up to a certain point; however, higher levels of happiness
beyond a moderate level are not associated with higher incomes or more
education.
What about other life domains? Is the moderate level of happiness also
associated with the best outcome in terms of, say, romantic relationships? The
respondents in the Australian Youth in Transition Study also reported the length
of their current intimate relationship later. In contrast to the income and
education findings, individuals from the very satisfied teenagers were involved
2211
in longer intimate relationships later than were individuals from the second
and third most-satisfied teenagers.
Figure 1. Happiness at age 18 and length of romantic relationships at age 33 (from Oishi
& Koo, 2008)
There are now many other data sets available to test the issues of the optimal
levels of happiness. For instance, the World Values Survey, which was
administered in 1981, 1990, 1995, and 2000, includes 118,519 respondents from
96 countries and regions around the world (see www.worldvaluessurvey.org
for more information about the survey questions and samples). Respondents
rated their overall life satisfaction on a 10-point scale (All things considered,
how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?). They also indicated
their income (in deciles from the lowest 10% in the nation to the highest 10%
of the nation), highest education completed, their relationship status (i.e.,
whether they were currently in a stable long-term relationship), volunteer work
they participated in (respondents indicated which, if any, of the 15 types of
volunteer work they were involved in), and political actions they had taken (e.
g., signing a petition, joining in boycotts). These questions were embedded in
more than 200 questions about values and beliefs. Here, we consider income,
highest education completed, relationship status, volunteer work, and political
participation.
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The World Values Survey data also showed that the highest levels of income
and education were reported by moderately satisfied individuals (8 or 9 on the
10-point scale) rather than very satisfied (10 on the 10-point scale). Similarly,
the greatest level of political participation was reported by moderately satisfied
individuals rather than by the most satisfied individuals. In contrast, the highest
proportion of respondents in a stable intimate relationship was observed
among the very satisfied rather than moderately satisfied individuals.
Similarly, the highest level of volunteer activities was observed among the very
satisfied individuals.
So far, the research shows that the optimal level of happiness differs,
depending on specific life domains. In terms of romantic relationships and
volunteer activities, happier is indeed better. In contrast, in terms of income,
education, and political participation, the moderate level of happiness is the
best; beyond the moderate level of happiness, happier is not better. Why is it
best to be happiest possible in terms of romantic relationships and volunteer
activities, whereas best to be moderately happy in terms of achievement?
At this point, this mechanism has not been empirically demonstrated. Thus,
the following is just a speculation, or educated guess. First, with regard to the
nonlinear association between happiness and achievement, the main reason
why the very high level of happiness might not be associated with the highest
level of achievement is that complete satisfaction with current conditions might
prevent individuals from energetically pursuing challenge in achievement
domains such as education and income. After all, the defining characteristics
of need for achievement are high standards of excellence and constant striving
for perfection (McClelland, 1961). Similarly, if individuals are completely
satisfied with the current political situation, they might be less likely to actively
participate in the political process. Achievement domains also have very clear
objective criteria, in the form of either monetary value, degree, or skill levels.
Improvement motivation (e.g., self-criticism, self-improvement) serves well in
the achievement domains because this mindset makes clear what needs to be
2213
done to improve ones skills and performance. In contrast, self-complacency

and positive illusions prevent one from clearly seeing ones weaknesses and
working on these weaknesses. The diametric opposite of self-complacency,
Tiger Woods spent long hours practicing to improve his already-amazing shot
after winning his first Masters. Similarly, Kobe Bryant is known to show up at
practice three hours early, so that he can improve some aspects of his game,
even though he already was one of the best players in the NBA.
This type of self-improvement motivation is often rewarded handsomely in
terms of performance, income, status, and fame. The same type of motivation
applied to an intimate relationship, however, does not work as well. This
motivation might lead to a realization that the current partner is less than ideal
and that a better partner is somewhere out there. Indeed, in a romantic
relationship, idealization of the partner is known to be associated with higher
relationship satisfaction and stable relationship (e.g., Murray, Holmes, & Griffin,
2003). In other words, positive illusion serves well in romantic relationships, in
which one might not want to pay too much attention to his or her partners
weaknesses. In the 1959 film Some Like It Hot, the millionaire Osgood Fielding
III (played by Joe E. Brown) fell in love with Daphne (played by Jack Lemmon).
In the memorable ending, Daphne confessed that she was actually a man and
Osgood famously responded: Well, nobodys perfect! In short, we argue that
the highest possible level of happiness is associated with idealization of the
partner and positive illusion about the relationship itself, which, in turn, results
in relationship stability. In an area in which nobody can be perfect, improvement
motives can be a poison.
What about the optimal level of happiness for volunteer work? Why is the
highest level of happiness better than moderate happiness? Many of us often
idealize volunteer work the way we idealize relationships. Many of us volunteer,
with an idealistic view of the world, to contribute to humanity. However, like a
romantic partner, no volunteer organization or volunteer work is perfect. It is
also time-consuming and requires serious commitment. Just like romantic
2214
relationships, then, it might be best to have a mindset with positive illusion,

that ones efforts are making a difference to the world. It might be that
moderately happy people, or at least some of them, might become more likely
to be disillusioned with the volunteer work than very happy people are, because
moderately happy people are more realistic than very happy people. In short,
volunteer work might be more similar to close relationships than to
achievement domains in terms of its motivational mechanism.
Conclusion
In summary, the optimal levels of happiness differ, depending on life domains.
In terms of income and education, the optimal levels of happiness seem to be
moderate levels. That is, individuals who are moderately happy are likely to
attain the higher levels of education and earn the most in the future. In contrast,
in terms of romantic relationships and volunteer activities, the optimal levels
of happiness seem to be the highest levels. Individuals who are very happy are
likely to stay in a good romantic relationship or volunteer. The divergent optimal
levels of happiness for relationship and achievement domains suggest that it
is generally difficult to have an extremely high level of overall happiness, good
romantic relationships, and high achievements. To this end, it is not surprising
that icons of improvement motivationTom Cruise, Kobe Bryant, Donald
Trump, and Martha Stewartall had marital problems, while achieving
unprecedented success in their respective fields. It should be noted, however,
that the successes of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Barack and Michele Obama,
among others at work and love, give us some hope that it is possible to have it
all, if you have talent in your chosen field, are passionate about it, and can switch
your motivational strategies between work and love.
2215
1. Why do you think that the optimal level of happiness is the moderate level
of happiness for future income, and the highest education achieved? Can
you think of any other reasons than the ones described in this chapter why
this is the case?
2. Do you think that the optimal level of happiness differs, not only across life
domains, but across cultures? If so, how? In which culture, might the optimal
level of happiness be lower? Higher? Why?
3. What might be the optimal level of happiness for health and longevity?
Highest possible level of happiness or moderate level? Why do you think so?
Vocabulary
Happiness
A state of well-being characterized by relative permanence, by dominantly
agreeable emotion ranging in value from mere contentment to deep and
intense joy in living, and by a natural desire for its continuation.
Life domains
Various domains of life, such as finances and job.
Life satisfaction
The degree to which one is satisfied with ones life overall.
Optimal level
The level that is the most favorable for an outcome.
Reference List
Carlson, M., Charlin, V., & Miller, N. (1988). Positive mood and helping behavior:
A test of six hypotheses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55,
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Index
5-reductase, 247
Ability models, 1690
ablate, 218
Absolute stability, 1456
acceptance and commitment therapy, 1847
accommodation, 1755
action potential, 159
Active personenvironment transactions, 1462
active-constructive responding, 1289
adaptation, 2169
adaptations, 292
adherence, 2140
adoption study, 348
Affective, 1614
affective forecasting, 1077
A-fibers, 436
age effects, 1457
age identity, 724
aggression, 1233
aggressive behavior, 250
agnosias, 186
agonists, 2104
agoraphobia, 1902
agreeableness, 1265
Agreeableness, 1380
allodynia, 445
alogia, 1864
altruism, 1269
ambivalent sexism, 1440

ambulatory assessment, 57
amnesia, 1988
amygdala, 1049, 1619
analgesics, 443
anchor, 847
anhedonia, 1930
anhedonia/amotivation, 1862
animistic soul, 1820
anomalous face overgeneralization, 1316
antagonists, 2104
anterograde amnesia, 1033
Antisocial, 1968
antisocial personality disorder, 2043
Anxiety, 1897
anxiety disorders, 1996
aphasias, 184
Appraisal theories, 1749
arcuate fasciculus, 186
aromatase, 248
arousal: costreward model, 1268
asylums, 1821
attachment behavioral system, 658
attachment behaviors, 658
attachment figure, 658
attachment patterns, 660
attitude, 1082
attraction, 1463
attractiveness halo effect, 1305
attributional styles, 1939
attrition, 1463
audience design, 896
authoritative, 615
authority stage, 702
autobiographical memory, 998
autobiographical narratives, 724
autobiographical reasoning, 1413
automatic, 1081, 1216
Automatic empathy, 922
automatic process, 1052
automatic thoughts, 1843
autonomic nervous systems, 182
availability heuristic, 1075, 1235
average life expectancy, 728
aversive racism, 1219
avoidant, 1968
awareness, 766
Awe, 1755
axon, 151
balance, 1779
balls, 555
basal ganglia, 213
behavioral genetics, 348
behavioral medicine, 2141
Behaviorism, 128
benevolent sexism, 1440
biases, 842
bidirectional, 705
Big Five, 1493
Big Five, 1408
Big-C Creativity, 1534

binocular advantage, 373
biofeedback, 2137
Biological vulnerabilities, 1897
Biomedical Model of Health, 2129
biopsychosocial model, 1824
Biopsychosocial Model of Health, 2129
birth cohort, 1457
Blatant biases, 1214
blocking, 971
blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD), 80
borderline, 1968
borderline personality disorder, 1996
bounded awareness, 849
bounded ethicality, 849
bounded rationality, 842
brain stem, 211
Brocas area, 184
bystander intervention, 1261
callosotomy, 214
capitalization, 1289
Cartesian catastrophe, 792
case studies, 218
catatonia, 1862
categorize, 975
catharsis, 1243
cathartic method, 1823
cell membrane, 156
central, 1102
central sulcus, 183
cerebellum, 188, 212

cerebral cortex, 213
cerebral hemispheres, 213
cerebrum, 183, 212
C-fibers, 440
chameleon effect, 1081
character strengths, 2188
chills, 1755
chromosomal sex, 246
chronic disease, 2128
chronic pain, 445
chronic stress, 1939
chunk, 948
Chutes and Ladders, 598
cingulate gyrus, 187
classical, 966
classical conditioning, 947
clock time, 509
cochlea, 396
Cognitive bias modification, 1848
Cognitive failures, 1994
cognitive psychology, 128
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), 1843
cohort effects, 1457
cohorts, 721
collectivism, 682
Commitment, 1779
common ground, 895
comorbidity, 1849
computerized axial tomography, 190
concrete operational reasoning stage, 595

concrete operations stage, 596
conditioned compensatory responses, 970
conditioned response, 1905
conditioned response (CR), 967
conditioned stimulus (CS), 966
cones, 366
conformity, 1131
Confounds, 31
Confusion, 1753
Conscience, 621
Conscientiousness, 1380, 1519
conscious, 1774
conscious experience, 766
consciousness, 124, 1988
conservation problems, 596
consolidated, 1029
consolidation, 1004
contemplative science, 767
context, 973
contingency management, 2085
continuous, 594
continuous distributions, 1377
contralateral, 214
contrast, 367
contrast gain, 371
control, 2133
convergent thinking, 1536
converging evidence, 216
Convoy Model of Social Relations, 725
coping potential, 1752

correlation, 33
corresponsive principle of personality development, 1464
cortisol, 1056
costbenefit analysis, 1263
C-pain or A-fibers, 437
crossmodal phenomena, 551
crossmodal receptive fields, 548
cross-sectional designs, 1993
Cross-sectional studies, 721
cross-sectional study, 1457
Crystallized intelligence, 721
C-tactile, 440
cue overload principle, 1008
cultural display rules, 1646
cultural relativist, 1818
culture, 1715
cumulative continuity principle of personality development, 1460
cutaneous senses, 434
daily hassles, 2131
dark adaptation, 370
day reconstruction method (DRM), 54
decay, 1029
declarative memory, 1033
defensive coping mechanism, 1993
deliberative, 1777
Delusions, 1862
Dendrites, 151
deoxygenated hemoglobin, 80
departure stage, 703
Dependent, 1968
dependent variable, 29
depolarization, 84
depth perception, 593
DES, 1992
descending pain modulatory system, 443
descriptive norms, 1133
developed countries, 681
developing countries, 681
Developmental intergroup theory, 1438
diagnostic criteria, 1865
dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), 1847
dialectical worldview, 1847
diary method, 52
dichotic listening, 526, 751
Differential stability, 1456
Differential stability, 1460
Diffuse optical imaging (DOI), 220
Diffusion, 156
diffusion of responsibility, 1262
directional goals, 1079
discontinuous., 594
discrimination, 1213
discriminative stimulus, 974
Disorganized behavior, 1864
disorganized speech, 1863
dissociation, 1989
dissociative amnesia, 1035
distinctiveness, 1000
distractor task, 798
divergent thinking, 1536

divided attention, 749
DNA methylation, 314
DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), 314
dopamine, 1872
double-flash illusion, 555
drive state, 1798
drug diversion, 2089
durability bias, 1078
early adversity, 1939
ecological momentary assessment, 52
ecological validity, 51
ectoderm, 180
EEG, 794, 1051
effortful control, 621
ego, 1407
ego defenses, 1356
ego depletion, 1518
Ego-depletion, 1781
egoism, 1269
electroencephalogram, 1051
Electroencephalography (EEG), 219
electronically activated recorder, or EAR, 54
Electrostatic pressure, 157
emerging adulthood, 678
emotion coherence, 1669
emotion fluctuations, 1666
Emotional intelligence, 1687
Emotion-focused coping, 2132
emotions, 1661, 1715
empathic concern, 1269

empathyaltruism model, 1269
empirical methods, 10
empiricism, 123
encoding, 949, 1028
encoding specificity principle, 1007
endocrine glands, 236
endorphin, 444
engrams, 1004
enzyme induction, 2109
enzymes, 2109
epigenetic, 271
Epigenetics, 312
epigenome, 312
episodic memory, 1867
episodic memory, 997
Error management theory (EMT), 299
ethics, 16
etiology, 1818
eugenics, 127
Eureka experience, 798
evaluative priming task, 1084
event-related potentials, 190
event-related potentials (ERP), 2023
Evocative personenvironment transactions, 1463
Evolution, 292
exemplar, 823, 875
experience sampling method, 52
experimenter expectations, 31
explicit attitude, 1083
exposure therapy, 1844

external causes, 2161
external cues, 1902
external validity, 49
exteroception, 434
extinction, 972
Extraversion, 1377, 1380
extrinsic, 1774
facets, 1383
facial expressions, 1754
factor analysis, 1380
false memories, 576
false-belief test, 925
Family Stress Model, 616
fantasy proneness, 1994
fear conditioning, 970
feelings, 1715
feminization, 244
fight or flight, 1901
fight or flight response, 1056
first-person perspective, 767
Five-Factor Model, 1380, 1965
fixed action patterns (FAPs), 1103
flashback, 1906
flashbulb memory, 129
flashbulb memory, 1001
Flat affect, 1864
flourish, 2187
Fluid intelligence, 721
foils, 573
foot in the door, 1113

forebrain, 181
Forgiveness, 2191
formal operational reasoning stage, 595
formal operations stage, 597
fornix, 187
Four-Branch, 1690
framing, 848
free association, 1839
frontal cortex, 1617
frontal lobe, 184, 213
full cycle psychology, 61
functional capacity, 1867
functional distance, 1152
functional magnetic resonance imaging, 1053
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 219, 2023
functional neuroanatomy, 1055
functionalism, 126
functionalist theories of emotion, 1748
gaze stability, 478
gender, 1434
gender constancy, 1437
gender discrimination, 1439
gender identity, 1434
Gender roles, 1434
gender schema theory, 1438
gender schemas, 622
gender stereotypes, 1434, 1437
gene, 311
General Adaptation Syndrome, 2131
General mental ability, 1588

general population, 1989
generalized, 106
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), 1898
genotype, 313
Gestalt psychology, 128
global subjective well-being, 727
globus pallidus, 187
goal, 1774
goal-directed, 977
gonadal sex, 246
good genes hypothesis, 1314
goodness of fit, 619
gratitude, 2189
gray matter, 188, 215
group level, 1456
gyri, 213
gyrus, 183, 213
habit, 977
habituation, 947
hallucinations, 1863
happiness, 2161, 2208
Hawthorne Studies, 1343
health, 2129
health behaviors, 2134, 2138
Hedonic well-being, 728
helpfulness, 1266
hemoglobin, 79
heritability coefficient, 349
heterogeneity, 720
Heterotypic stability, 1455

heuristics, 1103
heuristics, 1074
HEXACO model, 1386
highlight, 1779
high-stakes testing, 1488
hippocampus, 187
histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), 315
histone modifications, 315
histrionic, 1968
homeostasis, 1799
Homo habilis, 179
Homo sapiens, 179
Homotypic stability, 1455
honeymoon effect, 1492
hormones, 1056
Hormones, 236
hostile attribution bias, 1238, 1465
hostile expectation bias, 1238
hostile perception bias, 1238
hostile sexism, 1440
hostility, 2135
Hot cognition, 1078
humility, 2196
Humorism, 1820
hyperpolarization, 84
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, 1056
hypothalamus, 188, 1617, 1802
hysteria, 1819
identical twins, 313
identity, 1411
Identity diffusion, 641
image-making stage, 701
Imaginal performances, 1559
immunocytochemistry, 189
impact bias, 1077
impasse-driven learning, 1754
implemental, 1777
Implicit Association Test, 1217
Implicit Association Test, 1084
implicit attitude, 1083
implicit learning, 946
implicit measures of attitudes, 1083
implicit memory, 946
implicit motives, 1495
inattentional blindness, 528
inattentional deafness, 530
incidental learning, 949
independent, 1381
independent self, 1721
independent variable, 29
individual differences, 127
individual level, 1456
individualism, 682
Information processing theories, 592
informational influence, 1133
ingroup, 899, 1057
inhibitory functioning, 722
insomnia, 1996
instrumental, 967
integrated, 544
integrative or eclectic psychotherapy, 1849
intentional, 921
intentional learning, 949
intentionality, 921
interaural level differences (ILDs), 400
interaural time differences (ITD), 400
interdependent self, 1721
interdependent stage, 703
Interest, 1751
interference, 1030
internal, 2161
internal bodily or somatic cues, 1901
internal validity, 49
interoception, 434
interoceptive avoidance, 1901
interpersonal, 1637
interpretive stage, 702
intersexual selection, 293
intra- and inter-individual differences, 721
intrapersonal, 1637
intrasexual competition, 293
intrinsic, 1774
intrinsically motivated, 1752
introspection, 124
invasive, 78
I/O psychology, 1334
ion channels, 156
ionotropic receptors, 162
joint attention, 923
kin selection, 1266

knowledge emotions, 1748
language behavior, 58
latent inhibition, 1538
lateral geniculate nucleus, LGN, 187
lateral inhibition, 368
lateral sulcus, 183
lateralized, 214
law of effect, 967
lesion studies, 189
lesions, 78, 218, 1049
letter of recommendation effect, 1492
lexical hypothesis, 1379
lexicon, 897
Life course theories, 720
life domains, 2209
life satisfaction, 2161, 2210
Life span theories, 721
limbic system, 187, 213
limited capacity, 748
linguistic intergroup bias, 900
little-c creativity, 1534
longitudinal studies, 721
longitudinal study, 37, 1457
lordosis, 1804
ma, 512
magnetic resonance imaging, 190
magnetic resonance imaging, 1868
magnification factor, 184
maladaptive, 1818
malingering, 2089
manipulate, 1464
margin of error, 107
masculinization, 243
maternal behavior, 237
maturity principle of adult personality development, 1459
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), 1693
McGurk effect, 552
means, 1775
medial prefrontal cortex, 1053
medial temporal lobes, 1033
medial vestibulo-spinal tract, 482
medulla oblongata, 188
memory traces, 1004
mentalizing, 1054
mere-exposure effect, 1153, 1313
mere-exposure effects, 796
mesmerism, 1823
Metabolism, 2109
metabolites, 209
Metacognition, 951
mimicry, 921
mindbody connection, 2129
mindfulness, 1846
mindfulness-based therapy, 1846
mirror neurons, 922
misinformation effect, 571, 1005
mixed models, 1693
mnemonic devices, 1012
mock witnesses, 574
monitoring, 1516
monochronic (M-time), 511
mood disorders, 1996
mood-congruent memory, 1080
morph, 1311
motivated skepticism, 1079
motivation, 1774
motor cortex, 213
motor strip, 184
multicultural experiences, 1540
multimodal, 544
multimodal perception, 544
multimodal phenomena, 551
multisensory convergence zones, 547
multisensory enhancement, 546
myelin, 215
myelin sheath, 152
Narcissistic, 1969
narrative identity, 1413
natural selection, 292
Nature, 592
need for closure, 1079
negative feelings, 2161
negative state relief model, 1267
neural crest, 181
neural impulse, 123
neural induction, 180
neural plasticity, 85
neuroblasts, 181
neurodevelopmental, 1871
neuroendocrinology, 1056
neuroepithelium), 181
neuropsychoanalysis, 1360
neuroscience, 1614
neuroscience methods, 78
Neuroticism, 1380
neurotransmitter, 2104
neurotransmitters, 153, 236
nightmares, 1996
nociception, 434
nociceptors, 435
nomenclature, 211
nonassociative learning, 947
nonconscious, 1774
noninvasive, 78
normative influence, 1131
noxious stimuli, 445
nucleus, 151
nucleus accumbens, 1618
numerical magnitudes, 599
Nurture, 592
nurturing stage, 701
obedience, 1135
object permanence task, 595
object relations theory, 1357
obsessive-compulsive, 1968
obsessive-compulsive disorder, 1991
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 1908
occipital lobe, 187, 213
OECD countries, 681
omnivores, 415
O*Net, 1344
Openness, 1380
openness to experience, 1540, 1753
operant, 967
operant conditioning, 947, 967
operational definitions, 29
Opponent Process theory of color, 375
oppositional defiant disorder, 2080
optimal levels, 2212
originality, 1533
other-oriented empathy, 1265
outgroup, 1057
outgroups, 899
overconfident, 847
oxygenated hemoglobin, 79
oxytocin, 237, 270
pace of life, 515
pain, 432
panic disorder (PD), 1901
paranoid, 1970
parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), 85
parasympathetic nervous systems., 182
parent management training, 2086
Parental behavior, 252
parietal lobe, 185, 213
participant demand, 31
paternal, 252
pathologizes, 2076
Pavlovian conditioning, 966
peoples explanations of behavior, 928

perceived social support, 1159
perceptual learning, 946
performance assessment, 1697
periaqueductal gray, 1619
peripheral, 1102
peripheral nervous system, 85
personal distress, 1269
personality, 1377, 1965
personality disorders, 1967
Personality traits, 1377
person-centered therapy, 1841
personenvironment transactions, 1462
person-situation debate, 1389
phantom pain, 447
Pharmacokinetics, 2107
phenotype, 312
phonemic awareness, 598
photo spreads, 573
photoactivation, 366
phrenology, 217
Piagets stage theory, 592
pinna, 395
placebo effect, 31, 444
planning fallacy, 1077
pluralistic ignorance, 1261
polychronic (P-time), 511
polypharmacy, 2113
pons, 188
population, 106
positive affective states, 1724

positive feelings, 2161
Positive psychology, 2187
positron, 83
positron emission tomography, 1868
Positron Emission Tomography, 190
Positron emission topography (PET), 219
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 1906
prediction error, 971
prejudices, 1213
preoperational reasoning stage, 595
preoptic area, 1620, 1803
preparedness, 972
prevalence, 1991
prevention, 1778
primary auditory cortex, 549
primary visual cortex, 371, 549
prime, 1774
primed, 1081
priming, 796, 898
Principle of Inverse Effectiveness, 546
Problem-focused coping, 2132
processing speed, 722, 1867
progesterone, 253
progestin, 236
progress, 1778
projection, 924
projective hypothesis, 1494
prolactin, 237
promotion, 1778
pro-social, 2191
prosocial behavior, 1265
prosocial personality orientation, 1265
prototype, 1311
proximity, 1152
psychic causality, 1353
psychoactive drugs, 2104
psychoanalytic therapy, 1839
psychodynamic therapy, 1839
psychogenic, 1818
psychological adaptations, 294
psychological essentialism, 826, 878
psychological reactance, 1115
Psychological vulnerabilities, 1897
psychometric approach, 721
psychoneuroimmunology, 2129
psychopathology, 1864
psychopathy, 2041
psychophysics, 124
Psychophysiological methods, 78
psychosexual stage model, 1355
psychosomatic medicine, 2129
psychotropic drug, 2106
PTM, 1992
punishers, 967
Punishment, 1244
p-value, 105
qualitative changes, 594
quantitative changes, 594
quantitative genetics, 349
quantitative law of effect, 976

quasi-experimental design, 36
random assignment, 30
random sample, 106
randomly assigning, 109
Reactive personenvironment transactions, 1463
reappraisal, or cognitive restructuring, 1844
recall, 722
Received support, 1160
receptive field, 548
receptors, 237
Reciprocal altruism, 1267
reciprocity, 1111
recoding, 1001
recognition, 722
recurrent dreams, 1996
redemptive narratives, 1415
reference group effect, 1488
reflexive, 1405
reinforced, 1900
reinforcer, 967
reinforcer devaluation effect, 977
relational aggression, 1237
relationship bank account, 1290
reliable, 1490
renewal effect, 973
representativeness heuristic, 1074
resilience, 2132
resting membrane potential, 157
retrieval, 998, 1029
retroactive interference, 1005

Retrograde amnesia, 1034
reward value, 1803
Right-wing authoritarianism, 1215
rods, 366
rostrocaudal, 181
rubber hand illusion, 553
SAD performance only, 1904
sample, 106
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, 904
satisfaction, 1584
satisfactoriness, 1584
schema, 1073
schemas, 1438, 1843
schemata, 576
schizoid, 1970
schizophrenia, 1996
Schizotypal, 1969
scholar-practitioner model, 132
SCID-D, 1990
scientist-practitioner model, 1338
scientist-practitioner model, 132
security of attachment, 614
select, 1463
selective attention, 749
selective listening, 527
self as autobiographical author, 1414
self as motivated agent, 1411
self as social actor, 1408
self-categorization theory, 1218
self-control, 1775
Self-efficacy, 2133
self-enhancement bias, 1488
self-esteem, 1411
self-expansion model, 1293
self-interest is bounded, 849
self-perceptions of aging, 725
self-regulation, 1774
Self-regulation, 1514
Self-report assessments, 1694
self-report measure, 1994
self-report scales, 2171
Semantic memory, 997
sensitization, 947
Sensitization, 446
sensorimotor stage, 595
sensory modalities, 544
set point, 1799
sex, 1434
sex determination, 246
sexual differentiation, 246
sexual harassment, 1439
sexual orientation, 1434
sexual selection, 293
Sexual strategies theory, 296
shadowing, 751
sibling contrast effect, 1491
significance, 106
silent language, 507
simulation, 923, 1053
situation models, 897

sleep deprivation, 1998
sleep paralysis, 1996
slowly escalating the commitments, 1113
social and cultural, 1637
social and emotional learning (SEL), 1696
social anxiety disorder (SAD), 1904
social brain hypothesis, 899
Social categorization, 1050
social cognition, 1073
Social dominance orientation, 1214
Social identity theory, 1218
Social integration, 2134
social learning theory, 1439
social network, 725
social networks, 900
social proof, 1112
social referencing, 617, 1642
social reputation, 1408
social support, 1057, 2134
social time, 507
social touch hypothesis, 440
social zeitgeber, 1941
Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), 1340
Sociocultural theories, 592
socioeconomic status, 1936
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, 725
soma, 151
somatic nervous system, 182
somatogenic, 1818
somatosensory (body sensations) cortex, 213

somatosensory cortex, 436
somatosensory strip, 185
somatotopically organized, 436
spatial principle of multisensory integration, 549
spatial resolution, 80, 217
specific abilities, 1591
Specific vulnerabilities, 1897
spina bifida, 181
spines, 152
split-brain patients, 214
spontaneous recovery, 973
standards, 1516
State, 1989
Stereotype Content Model, 1219
stereotypes, 1050, 1213
Stereotypes, 1082
stimulus control, 974
storage, 998
strange situation, 659
stress, 2131
Stress, 1056
stress reaction, 1455
stressors, 2131
stria terminalis, 1620
structural model, 1355
structuralism, 125
subcortical, 213
Subjective age, 724
Subjective well-being, 2161
subtle biases, 1216

successful aging, 729
sulci, 213
sulcus, 183, 213
superadditive effect of multisensory integration, 546
superior temporal sulcus, 1054
supernatural, 1818
support network, 1161
Surprise, 1750
sympathetic nervous system, 182, 1056
sympathetic nervous system (SNS), 85
synapse, 152, 2104
synaptic gap, 153
synaptic vesicles, 153
synchrony, 921
syndrome, 1825
synesthesia, 378
syntax, 897
System 1, 850
System 2, 850
systematic observational, 10
target cells, 237
taste aversion conditioning, 969
teamwork, 1186
temperament, 619, 705
temporal lobe, 183, 213
temporal parietal junction, 1055
temporal perspective, 514
temporal resolution, 80, 218
temporally graded retrograde amnesia, 1034
terminal button, 152

tertiary education, 681
testosterone, 236
thalamus, 187, 1619
the age 5-to-7 shift, 1410
the I, 1412
the Me, 1412
theory of mind, 618, 916
theory of mind, 1410
third-person perspective, 777
thought-action fusion, 1909
threshold of excitation, 159
tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, 129
topographic model, 1354
Trait, 1989
trait curiosity, 1753
traitement moral, 1822
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), 218
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), 218
transduction, 187, 435
transfer-appropriate processing, 952
transformation, 1465
trauma, 1992
Trephination, 1819
Triarchic model, 2046
Trichromacy theory, 374
trigger features, 1104
twin studies, 348
tympanic membrane, 395
Type A Behavior, 2135
Type B Behavior, 2135

unconditional positive regard, 1842
unconditioned response (UR), 967
unconditioned stimulus (US), 966
unconscious, 792
under-determined or misspecified causal models, 1583
unimodal, 544
unimodal components, 546
unimodal cortex, 549
unusual uses, 1535
vagus nerve, 269
validity, 1487
vasopressin, 272
Verbal persuasion, 1559
vestibulo-ocular reflex, 378
vicarious performances, 1560
violence, 1234
visual cortex, 1619
visual hemifield, 214
visual perspective taking, 923
vivid dreams, 1996
voltage, 81
weapons effect, 1239
well-being, 1662
Wernickes area, 186
What pathway, 372
Where-and-How pathway, 372
white coat hypertension, 56
white matter, 188, 215
willpower is bounded, 849
work and organizational psychology, 1341

working memory, 184, 722, 948, 1867
Acknowledgments
The Diener Education Fund would like to acknowledge the following individuals and
companies for their contribution to the Noba Project: The staff of Positive Acorn, including
Robert Biswas-Diener as managing editor and Jessica Bettelheim as Project Manager;
Sockeye Creative for their work on brand and identity development, web design, and digital
strategy; Experience Lab for digital user experience design; The Other Firm for web and
software development; Arthur Mount for illustrations; Dan Mountford for artwork; Chad
Hurst for photography; EEI Communications for manuscript proofreading; Marissa Diener,
Shigehiro Oishi, Daniel Simons, Robert Levine, Lorin Lachs, and Thomas Sander for their
feedback and suggestions in the early stages of the project.
Thank you all!

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Introduction to

Psychology: The Full Noba

To reduce financial burden on students by providing access to free educational content

To provide instructors with a platform to customize educational content to better suit

To present material written by a collection of experts and authorities in the field

Topic 1: Psychology As Science

Why Science? (Overview Chapter)

Conducting Psychology Research in the Real World

Psychophysiological Methods in Neuroscience

Topic 2: Biological Basis of Behavior

The Nervous System

Hormones & Behavior

Evolutionary Theories in Psychology

Epigenetics in Psychology: Toward an Understanding of the Dynamic Interaction among Genes, En

The Nature-Nurture Question

Topic 3: Sensation and Perception

Taste and Smell

Touch and Pain

The Vestibular System

Time and Culture

Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness

Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases

Cognitive Development in Childhood

Social and Personality Development in Childhood

Attachment Through the Life Course

The Developing Parent

Topic 5: Cognition and Language

Categories and Concepts

Judgement and Decision Making

Categories and Concepts

Language and Language Use

Topic 6: Learning and Memory

Factors Influencing Learning

Conditioning and Learning

Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval)

Forgetting and Amnesia

Social Cognition and Attitudes

Persuasion: So Easily Fooled

Conformity and Obedience

Love, Friendship, and Social Support

The Psychology of Groups

Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping

Aggression and Violence

Helping and Prosocial Behavior

Attraction and Beauty

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology

The Psychodynamic Perspective

Self and Identity

Personality Stability and Change

Self-Regulation and Conscientiousness

Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and Mastery

Topic 9: Emotions and Motivation

Emotion Experience and Well-Being

Culture and Emotion

Knowledge Emotions: Feelings that Foster Learning, Exploring, and Reflecting

Motives and Goals

Topic 10: Psychological Disorders

History of Mental Illness

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders